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PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

LEXINGTON
HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AND PAPERS RELATING TO THE

HISTORY OF THE TOWN

PRESENTED AT SOME OF ITS MEETINGS.

VOL. III.

LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PUBLISHED BY THE LEXINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1905

p*^<^«

Gi!t
The Societj"-
f f D '05

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Sketch of Life of Hon. Thomas Hancock 5

Dr. Stillman Spauldinc 19

The Parish of Cambridge Farms 25

Charles Follen 42

Origin of the Lexington and West Cambridge Branch

Railroad 58

Some Memories of the Lexington Centennial .... 62
Recollections of the Third Meeting-house .... 82

The Epitaphs in the Burying-grounds ^5

The Concord Turnpike no

Early Days of the High School 117

Clock-making in Lexington 134

How the Hancock-Clarke House was Saved .... 138

The Munroe Tavern 142

Mr. Charles A. Wellington 155

Mr. George O. Smith 164

Rev. Carlton A. Staples 177

Proceedings i. to xi.

Gifts xii. to xvii.

Membership xix. and xx.

Necrology xxi. and xxii.

Index xxiii. to xxvi.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF HON. THOMAS
HANCOCK, A NATIVE OF LEXINGTON.

Read by Rev. C. A. Staples, March 8, 1887.

Among Hogarth's pictures, designed to teach certain
great moral lessons, there is a series entitled " The Indus-
trious and the Idle Apprentice." In these he represents
the course of two young men apprenticed to a silk weaver
in London, a hundred and fifty years ago. In the first
plate we have the young men working at their looms. The
industrious apprentice appears cheerful and happy, intent
upon his work and trying to accomplish as much as pos-
sible. Beside him lies an open book which he is supposed
to be reading whenever his eyes can be safely withdrawn
from his work — a book of an instructive and moral char-
acter. His appearance is that of a tidy, self-respecting,
open-hearted fellow, determined to make his way in the
world through his own work and worth. The other, the
idler, is represented as yawning over his work, from the ef-
fects of the last night's debauch, sullen and repulsive in
countenance, with copies of ribald songs hung up around
him, which he is evidently learning, and with a huge pot of
beer standing hard by. His appearance is slovenly and
coarse ; he seems careless in his work, and only concerned
to get through with it as easily as possible, that he may be
ready for another night of dissipation and folly.

The second plate represents the way in which they spend
Sunday. The industrious apprentice is seen in the congre-
gation at Church, joining in the service of worship with his
master's daughter who holds the hymn book with him from

6 THOMAS HANCOCK.

which they are singing together with evident satisfaction
and delight. The idler has stolen away from Church into
the adjoining burying ground, where with his associates he
is engaged in gambling, using a horizontal tombstone for a
table while the sexton, who has discovered them, is about
to cudgel them over the head with his cane.

In the fourth plate we have the industrious apprentice
advanced from the weaver's stall to the counting room,
where he keeps the books, and holds the keys of his mas-
ter's purse, while the idle fellow is driven out of the shop
and sent off to sea for vicious courses.

The next scene introduces us to a wedding with its fes-
tivities and rejoicing, where the industrious apprentice mar-
ries his master's daughter, and becomes his partner in busi-
ness, while the idle one, returning from sea, becomes the
associate of vile creatures, who live in wretched garrets and
support themselves by thieving.

In the next our industrious and prosperous young man
becomes an Alderman of London, and as one of the magis-
trates of the city, his former fellow apprentice is brought
before him to be tried for murder. And the series closes
with the Alderman, become Lord Mayor, and in his splen-
did coach, when riding to his inauguration in Guild Hall,
he passes his old associate on his way to the scaffold to die
for his crimes.

Thus industry, morality and religion lead to promotion,
wealth and honor ; while idleness, dissipation and folly lead
to poverty, suffering and shame. Such are the lessons
which these pictures forcibly, characteristically and happily
teach. They are a series of sermons illustrating great
principles of human conduct preached in pictures rather
than words.

No doubt Hogarth drew both characters from the life

THOMAS HANCOCK. 7

which he saw around him in the London shops and streets.
But he certainly could have found in Boston, living at the
very time his pictures were made, a man who almost ex-
actly answered to his delineation of the fortunes of the in-
dustrious apprentice. I mean Thomas Hancock, the son
of Rev. John Hancock, the second minister of Lexington.

The old Hancock House on Hancock Street, in Lexing-
ton has a small gambrel roofed ell, one story in height and
in dimension 24 ft. by 21. It constitutes the original house
built by the minister in 1698, when he was ordained and
settled over what was then the parish of Cambridge Farms.
In one of the two attic chambers of this humble dwelling,
Thomas Hancock, the second son of the minister, was born
July 13th, 1703, and five days afterwards, Sunday, July 18,
as the Church records show, he was taken to the meeting
house and baptized by his father. Thus early in life he
was inducted into the way of religious observances.

His education was probably conducted by his father and
consisted of little more than a knowledge of the three Rs.
At that time there was no school in the parish, so far as we
know, and the minister was, not unUkely, the only person
capable of teaching the common English branches and pre-
paring young men for college. Parson Hancock sent two
of his sons, John and Ebenezer, to Harvard, for which they
were prepared by his own instruction. It used to be said
that whenever a New England family had a boy who was
not good to work, he was sent to college, and made into a
minister. However this may have been with the Hancock
sons, it is certain that Thomas was a good boy to work and
that he was not sent to college, while his older and younger
brothers were in due time made into ministers.

Imagine the boy at fourteen trudging along the highway,
with his stock of clothing tied up in a handkerchief and

8 THOMAS HANCOCK.

slung over his shoulder upon a stick, his only worldly pos-
sessions, making his way to Boston, where he was appren-
ticed in 1 71 8 to Samuel Gerrish and Sarah, his wife, a book-
binder and stationer. He was a bright, quick-witted, wide-
awake lad and soon gave promise of higher things than
book-binding and book-selling, though he served out his ap-
prenticeship and learned the business thoroughly. No
sooner had he completed his term of service, probably in
1725, than we find him setting up for himself in the same
trade, possibly with the assistance of his master, or perhaps
taking the business of Gerrish into his hands, while his
master retired. Certain it is that he was soon established
in a store of his own on Ann Street, called " Stationer's
Arms," where he secured a large and prosperous trade and
where he remained for many years. Here the latest books
of Theology, Law, Medicine, Science, Religion and othei
departments of literature were to be found imported from
Longman's in London, or published in America. He seems
to have risen rapidly in wealth, social position and influence.
Probably he soon embarked in larger enterprises than book-
binding and selling.

We find him engaged in the retail dry goods business,
and the selectmen of Lexington entered in their accounts
with the town bills of such articles as mourning gloves
bought, I suppose, for the funerals of paupers, at the store
of Thomas Hancock. It is certain that he became a large
shipping merchant, trading with various foreign countries,
sending out cargoes of dried fish, corn and tobacco, and
bringing home wine and fruit, sugar and silks.

But in the meantime he had taken to himself a wife, in
the person of Lydia Henchman. He had not been an in-
dustrious and faithful apprentice in vain, nor a constant at-
tendant upon the Sunday services of Brattle Street Church,

THOMAS HANCOCK. 9

where the Henchmans worshipped, without winning the
confidence of the family and making a favorable impression
upon the heart of the daughter. And so his marriage with
the fair Lydia, who is said to have been a beautiful girl,
was consummated and a close alliance with one of the most
prominent and respectable families of the Church and the
town. The Henchman mansion was in Court Street, on
the site of what was till recently the Adams Express Com-
pany's building, that huge, iron front edifice, standing on
the south side a little below Tremont Street. It came into
the possession of Mrs. Hancock from her father's estate,
and was given by her to Brattle Street Church, after the
death of her husband, for a parsonage. Here the ministers
of that Church, Dr. Cooper, Buckminster, Edward Everett,
Dr. Palfrey and Dr. Lothrop resided, until within 40 years,
when it was sold and a new parsonage on Chestnut Street
bought. Here died that great preacher, Joseph Stevens
Buckminster, whose Church was so thronged, that as I
once heard an old lady say, who in her childhood used to
go there with her parents, ladders were sometimes placed
against the walls on the outside, and at the windows, and
when all the space inside was filled, people climbed up and
sat on the window sills, listening to the silver tones of
Buckminster's eloquence.

In the year 1735, Thomas Hancock, then but 32 years
old, had accumulated money enough to justify him in tak-
ing steps to build a house for his future home. He accord-
ingly bought the land on the south side of Beacon Hill, in-
cluding the present site of the State House and extending
some distance to the west of it and from the Common back
over the hill to Derne Street, including a portion of what
was known as the reservoir lot, embracing 6j^ acres of the
most desirable ground for residence in Boston. He be-

10 THOMAS HANCOCK.

gan building his house in the following year, and it was
completed and occupied by him in 1737.

All who were familiar with the Boston of 40 years ago,
readily recall the appearance of the old Hancock mansion,
standing a little west of the State House, and some dis-
tance back from Beacon Street, fronting the Common — a
substantial structure of stone, two stories in height, with
the front door in the centre, and a portico supported by
handsome fluted columns, with carved capitals. There
were two windows upon each side of the door, in the front
of the lower story, and five windows in the upper story.
The roof was of the style common in that day, called **gam-
brel," with three dormer windows and with a balustrade at
the peak, running the whole length and enclosing a con-
siderable space where the family could go out for an airing,
and obtain an extensive view over the city, the harbor and
the surrounding country. The house was approached from
the street by broad stone steps, through a yard laid out in
two or more terraces and planted with choice shrubs and
flowers. Originally, there was an ell containing a spacious
dining room on the east side, extending towards the State
House, and a similar ell on the west end, containing the
servants' rooms, and extending back to the stables, in the
rear, behind the house ; but these had disappeared before
my remembrance. Rising up the slope of Beacon Hill,
where Mt. Vernon and Pinckney Streets are now, were ex-
tensive fruit, flower and vegetable gardens, crowned with a
summer house from which opened a wide prospect over the
land and the sea ; and where the State House now stands,
was Hancock's cow-pasture.

The interior of the house was divided above and below
by a wide hall running through it, from front to rear. The
rooms were spacious and elegant, finished with elaborate

THOMA S HA NCOCK. 1 1

carvings, in the style of that day, and hung with rich and
curious papers. Everything without and within this lordly
mansion gave evidence of a taste for substantial and beau-
tiful things, and an ample fortune to gratify the taste.
The owner was evidently a prosperous and wealthy man,
who took dehght in well-kept grounds, a fine equipage and
a generous hospitality, who used his money freely where-
ever it brought him comfort, luxury and social distinction.

Thus we find the Lexington apprentice boy, after 25
years of hard work, wise planning and careful saving, the
owner of the finest house and estate in Boston. He had
risen by the force of character, from the bindery to the
counting room, and from the counting room to the head of
the establishment, to become its director and owner. The
industrious apprentice was thought good enough even to
possess the hand of Lydia Henchman, and he took her
from the plain house of her father in Court Street, and
made her mistress of a splendid mansion on Beacon Hill ;
too far away from the centre of business, in a bleak and
lonely spot, it was said, but all confessed that it was a
beautiful situation when once they reached it. In one of
his letters to a friend he says, "We are living very com-
fortably in our house on Beacon Hill." But it was a long
time, I suppose, before there were any neighbors nearer
than old Peter Faneuil, the great merchant, whose house
stood nearly opposite King's Chapel on Tremont Street,
and whom Thomas Hancock speaks of in one of his letters
as " The toppinist man in Boston."

In the Boston Public Library, there is a great mass of
manuscript letters, account books, and other papers that
belonged to Thomas Hancock, which were found in the old
Hancock mansion, when it was torn down in 1863. Here
are the contracts for building the grand house, drawn up in

12 THOMAS HANCOCK.

his hand-writing, and copies of his business letters to his
correspondents in England, ordering materials for the
house and its furnishings — the flowers, shrubs and trees
for his grounds, and books and merchandise for his store.
Some of them are very curious and interesting and they
reveal strikingly the habits and the character of the man;
his careful, methodical, pains-taking business methods ; his
anxiety to keep all the trade in his line of business in his
own hands and crowd out every competitor ; his sharp,
shrewd way of dealing with the London merchants to bring
his goods down to the lowest figure. He evidently fol-
lowed the advice of one of the Rothchilds,"To be success-
ful you must buy sheep and sell deer." When ordering
books, for instance, he would write that he wanted a par-
ticular one for his own use and wished the binding to be es-
pecially handsome, and suggested in view of the fact that
his trade was very considerable with them, whether they
would not be pleased to make him a present of it. He
never hesitates to tell precisely what he wants — there are
no sly hints, no circumlocution in presenting the matter
— he puts it in words that leave no chance for misunder-
standing. He wants the best at the lowest price, and if
something nice be thrown in to adorn the garden or the
house, so much the better. In planting his grounds with
trees, shrubs and flowers he had great tribulation. They
were ordered from London, and they were to be rare,
choice and beautiful. But hardly anything lived which he
received. The trees would not grow ; the seeds never
sprouted ; many pounds in value proved a total loss and he
writes to the nursery-man in England complaining bitterly,
"If you are an honest man," he says, "you will replace
this order with a new lot that are sound and good, without
cost. Even those things which you sent me as a present,

THOMAS HANCOCK. 13

were all worthless You cannot expect to extend your trade
here unless you make this loss good." Thus a hundred
and fifty years ago we find that all the seed sold was not
sound and all the trees planted did not grow, and buyers
then were like the buyers now, aye, like buyers 3000 years
ago, in the time of Solomon, who tells us that they used to
cry " It is nought, it is nought," and then go their way and
boast of their good bargains. In ordering his paper-hang-
ing, he wants a particular pattern, which he has seen in the
house of a friend, full of peacocks, mocking-birds, monkeys,
squirrels, fruits and flowers, but if possible, handsomer, as
he says, " with more birds flying about in the air and with
a landskip at the bottom."

Among the Hancock papers was found a curious letter
of Peter Faneuil's to an agent of his in the West Indies,
advising him of the shipment of a quantity of dried fish
which he is directed to sell for his advantage and invest the
proceeds in a straight-limbed negro boy, 12 or 15 years old,
one who has had the small-pox, and is of a tractable dispo-
sition. Thus the great merchant whom Hancock calls the
"toppinist " man in Boston, exchanged codfish for negroes.
He gave Faneuil Hall, which became the cradle of Liberty,
to the town of Boston. And within that hall were held the
great meetings, which did much to arouse public sentiment
against slavery and destroy the institution that Faneuil up-
held by precept and example.

We find Thomas Hancock, the Lexington apprentice
boy, prosperous and wealthy, settled in his Beacon Hill
mansion in 1737. His rooms are adorned with those won-
derful paper-hangings, and his gardens planted with all rare
and beautiful things brought from England, which he was
coaxing to grow. For twenty-seven years he lived there,
dispensing a generous hospitality and drawing around him

14 THOMAS HANCOCK.

the leading people of Boston, in social standing and influ-
ence. He still continued his book and dry goods store, but
a much larger and more profitable business was his trade
with foreign countries. This was probably the principal
source of his great fortune, which rose from the contents of
the handkerchief brought to Boston, to be the largest for-
tune in New England. He invested his money extensively
in lands. In some of the country towns of Massachusetts
he was an extensive owner of real estate, and in the district
of Maine, then belonging to Massachusetts, he owned
whole townships and counties amounting, I think, to more
than 100,000 acres. But he was not simply a sagacious,
enterprising, successful merchant and trader, but a kind-
hearted son and brother, and a compassionate and liberal
man in his relations to the poor and suffering.

When he was building the great mansion on Beacon Hill
in 1735 and 1736 for himself, he was also making a large
addition to his father's house in Lexington, and doing much
to make the last days of the old folks comfortable and
happy. The two-story portion of the house fronting the
south, and finished in large and handsome rooms, was
erected at the same time as the stone mansion in Boston.

His older brother John, the minister of Braintree, and
his younger brother, Ebenezer, colleague pastor, with his
father, of the Church in Lexington, both died in early man-
hood, leaving dependent families. Thomas Hancock had
no children of his own but he seems to have exercised a
paternal care over those of his deceased brothers educating
them and providing handsomely for them in his will. John
Hancock, who became President of the Continental Con-
gress and first Governor of Massachusetts, under the new
Constitution, was the son of his brother John, minister of
Braintree, and was his favorite nephew. He educated him

THOMAS HANCOCK. 1 5

at Harvard, took him into his counting room, after gradual
tion, sent him to England on business, where he witnessed
the coronation of George III, and left him an estate of
more than half a million dollars. This wealth inherited
from his uncle, and which he did nothing to increase, but
rather depleted, gave Governor John Hancock a high social
position and his great prominence among the patriots in
the opening scenes of the Revolution. Thus the Lexing-
ton apprentice boy perhaps did as much to make John
Hancock what he was, as any superior ability or merit of
his own.

But few rich men were on the patriot side. The wealth,
aristocracy and social distinction belonged mainly to the
Tories. That a young man of fine accomplishments and
aristocratic connections, having the second largest fortune
in the country, for probably it was the largest next to
Washington's, had enlisted in the patriot cause, was of im-
mense consequence to that cause and naturally secured for
him great consideration and enabled him to render grand
service in the struggle for National independence. Thom-
as Hancock was an active man in charitable, religious and
political affairs. It is said that he was fond of the clergy,
as good men usually are, and delighted to receive and en-
tertain them at his spacious mansion.

We learn from his order books that his cellar was well
stocked with the choicest wines and liquors, and the best
foreign fruits, and that his table was adorned with the
choicest glass, china and silver-ware that the London shops
afforded and was supplied with the most toothsome edibles
in the Boston markets. And if he really did have great
fondness for the clergy, it is no wonder that the clergy
were fond of him, and were frequently found eating at his
hospitable board and sleeping in his prophet's chamber. In

1 6 THOMAS HANCOCK.

his will he leaves ;^200 in money and a mourning suit to
his beloved pastor, Dr. Cooper, and bequests to four other
clergymen, including Jonas Clark of Lexington, who mar-
ried his niece, Lucy Bowes. Naturally enough the clergy
of that day may have thought that "of such is the king-
dom of Heaven ! " But his charities were much broader
than this. The first number of Hunt's Merchants' Maga-
zine contains a notice of Thomas Hancock which speaks of
his sympathy with the suffering of all classes and condi-
tions. It tells us that the poor were never turned away
from his door unfed and that no cause of education, philan-
thropy or of religion was denied his help and his bounty.
It is a striking fact also that he leaves a bequest of
;^iooo to Boston for the care of the insane poor. In his
will made 150 years ago when little or nothing had been
done for these sad wrecks of humanity, often chained up
for years in rags and filth and left to die like beasts, Thom-
as Hancock remembered their miserable condition and de-
voted five thousand dollars of his fortune to their alleviation
and comfort. It shows that a good heart beat in his
bosom ; he felt that he owed something to these poor and
wretched creatures out of the wealth with which his life
had been crowned. A professorship of Hebrew was founded
in Harvard College by a bequest in his will, and ;^iooo
given to the Society for propagating the Gospel among the
Indians. Bequests were also made to the poor of Brattle
Street Church, and a sum of money to the Church in Lex-
ington, to procure two communion cups as memorials of his
interest and affection. His brothers' and sisters' children
were liberally remembered in gifts of money or lands, while
the mansion on Beacon Hill with its furniture, plate, pic-
tures and books and with his horses and carriages, was left
to his wife and ;^ 10,000 sterling in money, the mansion to

THOMAS HANCOCK. Ij

go to his nephew, John, after her death, with the residue of
his estate.

During the last years of his hfe he was elected a member
of the Governor's Council. In connection with the French
and Indian Wars, he rendered important service to the Col-
ony and the English Government in fitting out various ex-
peditions against the enemy. He was a man of sound
judgment, of inflexible honesty, of broad, enterprising
spirit ; keen and sagacious in the pursuit of money but
liberal in using it ; warm and true in friendship, given to
hospitality, faithful to his convictions and firm in his relig-
ious principles and habits, a man who, like thousands of
New England boys born in humble country homes, by the
sheer force of a sound and sturdy character, made his way
from poverty to affluence, and become a power for good in
the community and the State.

At noon, August ist, 1764, just as he was entering the
door of the Council Chamber, in the old State House, he
was attacked with apoplexy and fell insensible upon the
floor. He was removed to his own house, where he lin-
gered for a few hours in an unconscious state and peace-
fully passed away in the 62nd year of his age. The dark
clouds soon to break in the thunder and tempest of the
Revolution were beginning to gather thick and fast in the
political heavens. The mutterings of the coming storm
were plainly heard ; but he was happily spared the sight of
the devastation and misery which it caused here. And he
was spared what would not unlikely have been a severer
trial, the choice which he would have been compelled to
make between the cause of the king and that of the people.
It was left for his nephew, John Hancock, probably a man
inferior to him in strength and excellence of character, to
make the choice and to attain the prominence and the fame

1 8 THOMAS HANCOCK.

which have been awarded him in history, but which the
good name and the great fortune of Thomas Hancock
opened to him and made possible for him. His widow,
Lydia Henchman Hancock, survived her husband above 1 1
years, occupying the famous mansion, and with her nephew
John maintaining a large and generous hospitality. She
was a near relative of the Quincy family and seems to have
exercised guardian care over Dorothy Quincy, daughter of
Edmund, a noted Boston merchant, whom John Hancock
married at Fairfield, Conn., Sept. 4th, 1775.

The following inscription is taken from the tombstone at
the grave of Madam Thomas Hancock, in the old burying
ground at Fairfield :

This stone erected

By Thaddeus Burr and Eunice Burr

To the memory of their dear friend

Mrs. Lydia Hancock,

Relict of the Honble Thos. Hancock, Esqr.

of Boston,

Whose Remains lie here interred, having retired to this town from

the calamities of war, during the Blockade of her native

city in 1775. Just on her return to the reenjoy-

ment of an ample fortune.

On April 15th A. D. 1776

She was seized with apoplexy and closed a life of

unaffected piety, universal benevolence

and extensiye charity.

DR. STILLMAN SPAULDING.
Read by Ralph E. Lane, March ii, 1S90.

Of the men once prominent in Lexington none is more
gratefully remembered by his townspeople than Dr. Still-
man Spaulding. Although not numbered among its earli-
est inhabitants, the Spaulding family has been identified
with this town for many years. Those who knew its origi-
nator here in the days when he ministered to them as their
physician and friend, will recall many acts which endeared
him in so remarkable a degree to the hearts of his neigh-
bors.

Entering upon the practice of medicine in this town in
the early part of the last century, the immediate successor
of Dr. Joseph Fisk, he exemplified that nobility of charac-
ter which is the delight of all good men.

Dr. Spaulding was born in Chelmsford, Mass., Aug 17,
1788. His father was Job Spaulding and his mother Sarah
Proctor. From this union resulted six children besides the
subject of this sketch, namely, Lydia, John, Nathaniel,
Sally, Betsey and Hannah.

During the Revolutionary War the schools of that town
greatly deteriorated and after attending there a short time
he was sent to Andover. Like all boys he was fond of play
and on one occasion, while snow-balling with his mates, he
was struck accidentally in the eye which was so injured
that after a few years he lost the entire use of it.

Dr. Spaulding early determined to become a physician,
and after leaving Andover proceeded to fit himself for col-
lege, under the tutorship of Rev. Mr. Allen of Chelmsford.

20 STILLMAN SPAULDING.

Dr. Rufiis Wyman of that town, however, urged him to
give up college, and enter the office of some physician, feel-
ing that the experience thus gained would be of more value
than a college training. This the young man decided to do,
and went to Amherst, N. H., where he began the study of
medicine with his cousin, Dr. Mathias Spaulding, who
besides having great skill in his profession was also a
profound scholar along other lines. It was owing to the
influence of this man that Dr. Stillman Spaulding resumed
his original purpose of having a college education. Dr.
Mathias Spaulding had graduated with honor from Harvard
in 1798 in a class having among its members such men as
Stephen Longfellow, Rev. Dr. Channing and Judge Story.
The atmosphere of learning into which the young man was
thrown at his cousin's changed his purpose, for soon after
he returned to Chelmsford, and after studying for a while
with Dr. Rufus Wyman, entered Middlebury College, from
which he was graduated in 1 810 at the age of 22.

After leaving college he practised medicine for a few
months with Dr. Morrill of Cambridge, and the next year,
181 1, moved to Lexington.

During his student life at Chelmsford, he became en-
gaged to Susan Butterfield, daughter of Capt. John and
Rebecca (Kendall) Butterfield of Chelmsford. She was a
girl of beautiful character and high aspirations, but she
died during their courtship, and sometime later he became
engaged to and finally married her sister, Lucy Butterfield.

When he first came to Lexington he boarded at the old
Buckman Tavern, where he remained till his marriage.

During this time he made frequent excursions to Chelms-
ford to visit Miss Butterfield, and on the 13th day of May,
1 819, they were married at her father's house. Soon after
the wedding they came to Lexington and moved into the

STILLMAN SPAULDING. 21

house known for so many years as the Spaulding Home-
stead on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Clark
Street and in which he lived till his death.

Before Dr. Spaulding moved into this house a Mr. Dick-
son kept a grocery store in the half on the south-east side,
and later Mr. Gilman. Part of the time the Spauldings
occupied but one half the house, renting the other side.

The double house standing between the Spaulding Home-
stead and Mr. Spaulding's store is of comparatively recent
date, for at the time he purchased the property, the site of
the present house was an open field, sloping abruptly to-
wards the south-west, and the present sidewalk was not
then in existence. In August, 1835, Dr. Spaulding en-
gaged the late David Tuttle to build this house, the Doctor
furnishing the lumber and Mr. Tuttle performing the labor.
The building was but partly finished that year, and it was
not completed till sometime later. It was first rented to a
man by the name of Haskell, who carried on a book-bindery
for some years ; later to one Sealey, a tailor from Woburn,
who afterwards moved into a small building on the land of
David Johnson, now the site of Miss Clara Harrington's
house. This little shop was a few years later moved away
by Isaac Mulliken. After Sealey left the Doctor's new
house, three other tailors lived there, and still later a man
named Gossum kept an oyster saloon there.

A well was dug in front of this house, now covered by
the sidewalk, and probably few people know when passing
there, that but a few feet of earth separate them from what
is still a fine well of water.

After four years of married life Dr. Spaulding's first
child was born, John Butterfield Spaulding, June 29, 1823,
who lived but nine years, dying March 4, 1832. This child
was a prodigy, and his father was justly proud of him.

22 S TILLMAN SPAULDING.

When but eight years old, he was proficient in Latin, being
able both to speak and to write it, and in other branches he
was equally advanced. It was Dr. Spaulding's greatest de-
light to question his son in his different studies, and often,
when driving out of the yard, on seeing the boy at play, he
would alight from his chaise to talk with him in Latin or
ask him some puzzling question in mathematics.

The death of this child was a great blow to his parents.
They had four other children, (i) Susan Butterfield, born
July 31, 1826, who married William Jackson Currier, M.D.,
January 23, 1845, ^.nd died February 24, 1877; (2) Natha-
niel Edward, born November 23, 1829, who married Henri-
etta D. Palfrey of Boston, January 14, 1858, and died in
April 1889 ; (3) Louisa Butterfield, born February 16, 1834,
and died the next day ; and (4) John Butterfield, born Sep-
tember II, 1836, married Mary B. Saville of Gloucester,
Mass., October 3, 1861.

Dr. Spaulding was very charitable. It mattered little to
him that patients weie unable to pay. They received the
same tender devoted care which he gave to all others.

When the youngest child was six years old, he had Mr.
Healy of Paris, a very noted portrait painter, paint the pic-
ture of each member of his family. Mr. Healy returned
to America in i860, visiting Lexington, and called on Dr.
Spaulding in order to view his early work.

The Doctor was a great reader, a thorough scholar and a
skillful practitioner. As a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society and a close observer of its proceedings, his
mind was in touch with the most advanced medical thought
of the day, and this higher knowledge which came to him
found full expression throughout his professional life.

A devoted student, with a tenacious memory, his mind
was stored with historic as well as scientific data. Such

STILLMAN SPAULDING. 23

was his passion for reading that often, after retiring, he
would re-light his candle and read for hours. On account
of his poor sight, he was obliged to hold his book very near
the light, and so absorbed would he become in his reading
that often the flame of the candle would scorch the leaf of
the book before he noticed it. His poor sight made him
the object of many practical jokes at the hands of his son-
in-law, the late Dr. Currier. Dr. Spaulding always burned
candles, and on taking them down from the shelf one even-
ing to light he found, after burning a number of matches,
that his son-in-law had substituted two parsnips for the
original tallow dips.

Dr. Spaulding was a lover of nature and took great in-
terest and delight in agriculture. He bought at an early
period about twelve acres of land lying on the top of Con-
cord Hill, bordered on the two sides by the main Concord
Road and Hill Street ; also a strip of land lying on the
south-east side of Belfry Hill, now owned by Mr. Chandler
Richardson. On these two pieces of land he had his gar-
den. The late Mr. Benjamin Gleason, who then lived on
Concord Hill, in a house owned by Mr. David Johnson,
now the site of the present Almshouse, was his gardener, v^

and every fall after harvest Mr. Gleason took several
wagon-loads of produce to Boston. Dr. Spaulding at one
time kept a yoke of speckled oxen, and besides his regular
practice as a physician engaged in the wood business.

So far as I have been able to learn Dr. Spaulding never
held any town office, but in 1820 was one of a committee of
three chosen by the town to build a fence around the Com-
mon, and in 1822 he was appointed one of the trustees of
the Lexington Academy.

In politics he was a Whig, and very decided in his opin-
ions. He was a deeply interested behever in the Sweden-

24 STILLMAN SPAULDING.

borgian faith, reading many books on that special subject.

He was also a member of the Hiram Lodge of Free and
Accepted Masons, joining at the time it held its meetings
in the Munroe Tavern.

An affection of the heart had for some time warned him
of the approaching end, and he placed his affairs in order
accordingly. The last entry in his day book, was at the
end of the last leaf.

On the morning of his death he visited a patient in Bur-
lington and, returning home, he dined and subsequently
called at the house of his daughter. At four o'clock, an
hour before his death, he put on his hat and went down the
street to visit another patient. Returning to his house, he
sat for a few minutes at the back porch, reading, when his
attention was called to some cattle breaking into the gar-
den. He threw down his newspaper, hurriedly walked over
to the garden and fell, dead. Being missed, Mr. Johnson,
his neighbor, searched for him, and in the twilight he was
found peacefully lying beneath an apple tree, with his horse
" Pompey " grazing nearby.

He had reached the allotted age of man, and at the close
of a sweet spring day, May 28, i860, when the sun was
near its setting, his soul had quietly passed on.

Though Dr. Spaulding had his faults as many large-
souled men do, his generous and kindly deeds, his hearty
good cheer and inspiring words will always live in the
hearts of those who knew him. To these the memory of
Dr. Spaulding will be most pleasant.

His funeral took place from the Unitarian Church, Tues-
day, May 31, i860, and was attended by a large number of
people. His remains rest in the new cemetery.

THE PARISH OF CAMBRIDGE FARMS.
Read by Rev. C. A. Staples, December 8, 1891.

The territory now known as Lexington was, originally, a
part of Cambridge. When the first settlements were made
within its borders, we are unable to determine. Certainly
as early as 1642, since, in the conveyance of a 600 acre
tract to Herbert Pelham, in that year, embracing a large
portion of what is now Lexington village, mention is made
of a dwelling house thereon. Tradition says that a saw-
mill had been erected at that time on the brook below East
Lexington, one of the earliest if not the earliest in the
Massachusetts Colony. The growth of the settlement
was, undoubtedly, very slow and, forty years later, the
number of families located within the limits of this portion
of Cambridge did not exceed thirty. The territory had
been granted or sold, in large tracts, by the Cambridge
proprietors, principally to Cambridge people who resided
there but cultivated lands here, raising their grain, vege-
tables and hay on the fields which they had cleared, and
drawing their wood and timber from the forests. Gradu-
ally these tracts were divided into farms and given to their
children, who settled on them or sold them to men who re-
moved here from the older towns. Thus, these lands
naturally came to be designated "The Farms," "Cam-
bridge Farms" or "Cambridge North Farms," and the
people living here as " The Farmers." Even in official
documents from the General Court, they are so called.

Of course the inhabitants were all taxed to support the
Church at Cambridge and were required to attend meeting

26 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

there on the Sabbath unless they had obtained leave to
attend in some adjoining town more convenient to them.
Some were connected with the Watertown and some with
the Concord Church. We can hardly imagine the hard-
ships which Church attendance often involved, the people
riding on horseback a distance of seven or eight miles, or
in an ox-cart, over roads that were mere paths cut through
the woods, in cold and stormy weather, sometimes through
deep snow or mud. Yet, every person, not disabled by
sickness or old age, was required to go. Children were not
allowed to grow up without religious instruction and care,
and settlements beyond a certain distance from the meet-
ing-house were discouraged and even prohibited in some
towns. All must live within the sound of "the church-
going bell " or of the meeting-house drum.

Attendance at Cambridge had become so grievous a
burden to the farmers that, in 1682, they petitioned the
General Court to be made a separate parish, having their
own church and minister. It involved no change of their
relation to Cambridge as a town, but permitted them to tax
themselves for the maintenance of a minister and the build-
ing of a meeting-house and relieved them from paying a
tax, for these purposes, to Cambridge. In all other respects
they would still be under the jurisdiction of Cambridge.
This petition was signed by eight of the principal men of
the settlement, viz : James Cutter, Matthew Bridge, David
Fiske, Sr., Samuel Stone, Sr., Francis Whitmore, John
Tidd, Ephraim Winship and John Winter ; but, through the
position of Cambridge, unwilling to give up the tax which
the farmers paid towards the support of the Cambridge
minister, it was denied. Two years later, the petition was
renewed and the General Court appointed a committee to
consider the matter and report what action ought to be

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 27

taken regarding it. Their report was favorable to the peti-
tioners and recommended the formation of a new parish for
their accomodation ; but Cambridge was again able to de-
feat the measure. Seven years longer the farmers waited,
patiently going to Cambridge to meeting, the nearest of
them being five miles distant, when they again renewed
their petition. Both parties were heard, and, after due con-
sideration, the prayer for a separate parish was granted,
and, on December 15, i6gi, the act creating it became a
law. No name was given to the parish in the act itself,
but, from that time, it became known as the North Parish
in Cambridge, or commonly, as the Parish of Cambridge
Farms. The boundaries began, as the record says, at the
water or swampy place where is a kind of bridge, south of
the house of Francis Whitmore, and running south-west
and north-east between Watertown and Woburn, setting
off all the land north of it which belonged to Cambridge.
This was, substantially, the territory now comprised in the
town of Lexington. The house of Francis Whitmore must
have been near the present residence of Mr. Alderman.

Such was the original North Parish in Cambridge, or
Cambridge Farms, as constituted by the General Court,
Dec. 15, 1691. The first meeting under this act did not
take place, however, until the 2 2d, of April, 1692, when the
people met and chose David Fiske, Sr., as the clerk of the
Parish to record the votes. They resolved to invite Mr.
Benjamin Estabrook to preach for them for one year from
May I, 1692, and a committee was appointed to communi-
cate the action of the parish and receive his answer. Pre-
vious to this, the work of building a meeting-house had
been commenced, and, during the year 1692, it was pre-
pared for the occupancy of the parish. At what time the
first service was held in it, we have no means of knowing.

28 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

Nothing is said of a dedication. It was used for worship
when only partially finished, a plain, barnlike structure,
covered with rough boards and shingle roof, without
steeple or paint. Inside the church there was neither
plaster nor paint. The timbers were all exposed. Rude
benches extended across from the middle aisle, on either
side, to the outer aisles : on one side sat the men, on the
other, the women, all placed according to their supposed
importance in the parish, measured by their property, age
and social position. The boys were on a bench in the rear
where they might be inspected. There were galleries on
three sides and men's stairs and women's stairs leading to
them. Subsequently, upper galleries were added, and the
inside ceiled up with boards. William Reed was allowed
to put in "a settee " for Goodwife Reed, and several of the
men built "handsome seats, against the wall" for their
wives, though not allowed to sit with them. This structure
stood at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue and Bed-
ford Street, not on the Common, but below it, where the
Memorial Fountain now stands, and fronted down Massa-
chusetts Avenue. It had three outside doors, no porches,
no means of warming it, few windows and many crevices
for ventilation. The original cost, as shown by the sub-
scription paper, was between £tQ and £'J0. Twenty-two
different family names appear on the list of subscribers,
forty-three in all, pledging sums from los, the lowest, to
2£ I2S, the highest. Thirteen of these names are repre-
sented in Lexington, now, by their descendants or persons
bearing similar names.

In this meeting-house Benjamin Estabrook, a graduate of
Harvard in the class of 1690, son of Rev. Joseph Estabrook
of Concord, began his ministry as the preacher of Cam-
bridge Farms, in May 1692, and continued until his death,

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 29

in July 1697, when but twenty-six years of age. He was
not regularly ordained and settled, however, until more
than four years after he began preaching here, viz : in Oc-
tober, 1696, probably because the people were unable to
make suitable provision for a life settlement, every minister
then being settled for life. He received £/\q a year, half
money and half in other pay at money prices, which shall
be "for his salary and his entertainments." A house was
built for him on the land now owned by Mr. William
Plumer, and presented to him on the condition of his
" abiding with us till God's Providence otherwise dispose of
him." Mr. Estabrook died shortly after his ordination and
settlement, to the great disappointment and grief of the
people ; evidently, a young man of fine promise and sin-
cerely beloved by his parishioners.

After a few months he was succeeded by Rev. John
Hancock, who preached for some time on probation and
then received a call to settle over the parish. He accepted
it and was ordained in November, 1698, as the second min-
ister, and held the office until his death in 1752, a period of
fifty-four years. John Hancock was a native of Cambridge,
son of Nathaniel, the Cordwainer, and a graduate of Har-
vard in the class of 1689. He appears to have spent
several years in teaching, before he came here, while pre-
paring for the ministry, preaching, also, in Medford and in
Groton for some time. According to agreement with the
parish he was to receive ;^8o for a settlement, as it was
termed, and ;^45 a year with a quarterly collection. This
was, afterwards, advanced to £^0 a year ; but the deprecia-
tion of the currency went steadily on until the salary was
hardly half that sum in good money.

In 1698, Mr. Hancock bought twenty-five acres of land of
Benjamin Muzzey, lying on both sides of what is now Han-

30 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

cock Street, and, soon after, built the small, one story, gam-
brel-roof house now forming the ell of the Hancock-Clark
house. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Thomas
Clark, minister of Chelmsford, and, in that humble cottage
their five children were born and grew up to manhood and
womanhood, ultimately filling a large place in the history of
the town, the state and the nation. Two of the sons grad-
uated at Harvard. John and Ebenezer became ministers
and a third son, Thomas, became the great Boston mer-
chant, who bought Beacon Hill and built the famous Han-
cock mansion there, and also, the two story front of the old
parsonage, here, for his father and mother. The daughters
married clergymen and the descendants of John and
Elizabeth Hancock have been among the most disting-
uished men and women of our country. I believe we may
trace twenty-five ministers back to progenitors connected,
in some way, with that venerable house, besides physicians,
lawyers and authors.

In 171 3, the parish of Cambridge Farms became the town
of Lexington, and, thenceforth, the affairs of the church
were managed by the town, like the schools, the roads and
the poor.

The first meeting-house had become dilapidated, though
it had stood only about twenty years, and, accordingly, it
was voted " to under-prop the great beams, mend the leaky
places, and build a new one in convenient time, after the
new mode like Concord." No bell had been used to call
the people together for worship up to the year 1700 ; prob-
ably a drum was used for that purpose. The town then
voted to ask Cambridge for the bell, probably an old one,
no longer in use there and the request appears to have
been granted. ** A turriott " was erected to hang it on —
probably a belfry placed on the ground.

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 3 1

In due time the new meeting-house was built, costing
about ;^500, and was first occupied in October 1714 : a
much more spacious, comfortable and elegant edifice than
the old one, but, apparently, of the same general appear-
ance. It was 40 by 50 feet on the ground, and 28 feet in
height, with two tiers of galleries on three sides, in the
upper of which the town's powder was kept, and the
negroes seated on Sunday. It had three tiers of windows
and three outside doors and was unpainted outside and in-
side, excepting the pulpit, the front of the galleries and the
pillars supporting them which, we are told, were colored.
Like its predecessor, it had no steeple and no provision for
warming. Here Mr. Hancock preached until his death and
here his funeral was held after his long ministry had come
to an end. The town generously granted £^QQ, O.T. and
observed the event by copious eating and drinking at the
public houses, providing mourning weeds, gloves and rings
for bearers and relatives, and digging and bricking up the
grave ; bills for which appear on the town records. In
1734, Ebenezer Hancock, his youngest son, had been or-
dained and settled as his colleague. For several years he
taught the Grammar School in the town and *' assisted his
honored father," as the record tells us ; a young man of
large promise and noble nature, whom the people regarded
with great respect and esteem, and whose death, in his 30th
year, after six years of service, was sincerely mourned.

Little is told in our records regarding the forms of wor-
ship in Mr. Hancock's time. The singing was by the con-
gregation, the deacon giving out two lines at a time and the
people singing them after him. The Bible was not read as
a part of the service. This custom, now universal, was not
introduced into the churches until long afterwards. No
musical instruments were used in the service and the wor-

32 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

ship must have been destitute of beauty or variety and,
hence, uninteresting and tedious to the young. Two long-
prayers, a long sermon, generally read from manuscript,
and two of the psalms sung to dolorous tunes and without
much regard for time or harmony.

Every Sunday there were two such services, with an
hour's intermission. This was spent by the men at some
public house, discussing the news of the day or the morn-
ing sermon, and enlivened by copious draughts of flip
always in readiness for the occasion. In the meeting-
house, during service, tything men were stationed at differ-
ent points, provided with long poles to keep the boys in
order and to break up the slumbers of ungodly men. Dur-
ing the intermission men were placed in the galleries to see
that there was no irreverent conduct, and, at one time, a
paper was given the minister to read, regulating the coming
down stairs. There were no pew rents, the expenses being
paid by a tax assessed on all the property of the town.

While no paper of a worldly or secular concernment was
allowed posted on the meeting house, lest the house be de-
filed, or as it is sometimes expressed be " damnified there-
by," all town meetings were held in it, except on very cold
days, when adjournment was made to some tavern where
the people could keep warm. Such were some of the cus-
toms prevalent in Mr. Hancock's time, which are noticed
upon our records.

After the old minister's death, three years passed away
in hearing candidates, before a choice was made of Jonas
Clarke as his successor, a native of Newton and a graduate
of Harvard in the class of 1753. He was ordained in No-
vember, 1755, and remained the minister of Lexington until
his death in 1805, a period of fifty years ; a bold, strong,
progressive man, of untiring industry in his work and un-

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 33

flagging zeal in the cause of American Independence.
Marrying the grandanghter of his predecessor, Lucy
Bowes, daughter of the minister at Bedford, he began
house-keeping in the old parsonage, and, after the death of
Madam Hancock, in 1760, bought the place of Thomas, the
princely Boston merchant. Here their twelve children,
six sons and six daughters were born, and lived to attain
the years of adult life. Here Mr. and Mrs. Clarke spent
the remaining years of life, and the last of the family, two
unmarried daughters, died there in 1843. Thus the Han-
cocks and the Clarkes occupied the place nearly 150 years.
It was the rallying point of the patriot statesmen of this
region during the Revolutionary period, for consultation
upon the momentous affairs of the country. It was, also,
a visiting place tor distinguished scholars and literary men
from the college and the city, and of the clergy in this por-
tion of Middlesex County. The best society of the town
and of the colony often met within its walls and around
the hospitable board of "the patriot priest" as Mr. Clarke
was called. Four of his daughters married ministers, and
his sons became men of note, as bankers, merchants and
government officials. Thus the old house became a foun-
tain of good influences which flowed out, far and wide,
making the common life more rich in culture, refinement
and virtue.

Forty years of Mr. Clarke's ministry were passed in the
second meeting house, erected in 1714, and standing on the
Common at the time of the battle, with the belfry standing
near it. In it he was ordained and in it he preached those
stirring sermons which roused the spirit of resistance to in-
justice that proved so strong in his pet'ple when the time
of trial came. But the event which has invested that meet-
ing house with the deepest interest is that of the 19th of

34 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

April, 1775, when a little company of Lexington farmers
were drawn up behind it, to defend their rights with their
lives. What a scene it witnessed on that eventful morning,
— seventy or eighty men, hastily summoned from their
homes, standing there, in then homespun clothing, armed
with their old fowling pieces, to face a battalion of the best
disciplined troops in the world, and ready to lay down their
lives for justice and liberty, for home and country, and the
rights of mankind ! And into that old meeting house were
borne the bodies of the slain and laid upon the floor of its
aisles, after the bloody work was done. Tradition tells us
that a woman, returning from market to her home in Car-
lisle, on that morning after the British had marched on
towards Concord, came to the Common, dismounted from
her horse, went into the Church and saw the bodies lying
there. What a scene the funeral must have been, in the
old meeting house, when Mr. Clarke spoke of the awful
tragedy in which ten of his parishioners had perished and
whose bodies lay before him in the place where, on the pre-
vious Sabbath, they had joined in the worship ! Above his
head, as he stood in the pulpit, was the hole in the window
where a cannon ball passed through the house, burying it-
self in the ground a few rods behind him ; and before him
were gathered a great multitude from this and the sur-
rounding towns, to join in the solemn services. What won-
der if words of bitterness were spoken and purposes of ven-
geance were kindled by that awful scene !

But nothing could save the old meeting house. These
stirring memories seem to have counted for little towards
preserving it from destruction. Were it standing today we
would gladly cover it with gold to keep it from decay and
save it for the generations to come. Governor Hancock,
whose service in the cause of Independence had done so

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 35

much to invest it with undying interest, whose grandfather
had preached in it for forty years, and whose father was
christened in it on the first Sunday after his birth, led the
way for its destruction by offering to give the town $ioo
towards building a new one, — the record says " as soon as
they struck ax to timber" in its construction. Even Par-
son Clarke joined in the crusade against the venerable
house by adding 1^30 to Governor Hancock's gift. And so,
after eighty years of service in the sheltering of patriotism
and religion, it was pulled down, to give place to a much
larger, more costly and elegant structure, the third meeting
house of Lexington, built in 1794 and dedicated January 15,
1795. Evidently the people were very proud of their new
house of worship and of the Bible which Governor Han-
cock gave, to be read in the service, and which the people
accepted on the promise of Mr. Clarke, that the reading
should not increase the length of the service, as one of the
deacons declared that he wanted to get home and do his
chores before dark. The third meeting house was re-
garded as a noble edifice, far more comfortable than the old
one, with a lofty steeple, three spacious vestibules and a
large bell which could be heard all over the town, ringing
the people to meeting, ringing them to bed at nine o'clock
at night, tolling when they died to tell everybody how old
they were, and when their bodies were borne to the last
resting place.

It had some pretentions to architectural beauty, and
what doubtless pleased the people not a little was its
superiority to the Concord meeting house, it being much
more spacious and comfortable. Pews were placed on the
floor and in the galleries, instead of long benches, and after
its completion they were sold at auction, a flag being
hoisted in each pew when bids were asked for, on which

36 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

was inscribed " For Sail," and so well did the pews " sail "
that, after paying all the cost of construction, above ^2000
remained as a surplus. The house was painted a pea-green,
and horse blocks were built at the doors.

In the new meeting house a choir was organized, and
musical instruments, the chief of which was the great bass
viol, were used to aid the singers. A singing school was
established, and the town made an appropriation to buy
candles and wood, to encourage the singers if they would
" set " together in the gallery; and they decided to sit there.
Hymn books were now procured by the people and the old
custom of lineing the hymns was given up. Thus the wor-
ship in the new house during the last years of Mr. Clarke's
ministry was made far more attractive and satisfactory, es-
pecially to the young people. The good old minister, ac-
tive, vigorous and useful almost to the last, enjoyed the
new place of worship for ten years, and in 1805 was gath-
ered to his fathers, full of years and honors, though not of
riches, as the inventory of his estate plainly shows, where
the old horse is put down at ^8 and the chaise at ;^3, each
of his heirs receiving about 1^130. His diary closes, after
fifty years of faithful keeping, with these words, " Finished
haying today." The trembling hand could write no more
and in a few weeks was still in death.

In December, 1807, after two years of candidating. Rev.
Avery Williams was ordained as Mr. Clarke's successor,
the fifth minister of Lexington. Like all his predecessors,
he was settled for life ; a native of Guildford, Vt., the son
of Rev. Henry Williams of that town, and a graduate of
Dartmouth College and Princeton Theological Seminary.
He remained the minister of the town for eight years,
when, on account of feeble health, incapacitating him for
continuous service, he resigned and sought in the South

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 37

for a renewal of his ability to labor ; but it was too late.

He gradually sank under disease and died in the follow-
ing year, 1816. His was the last life settlement of Lex-
ington ministers. The town voted him 1^750, when the
connection was dissolved, being legally bound to pay his
salary as long as he lived, whether he was able to render
service or not. From what we learn of Mr. Williams, he
was regarded as a man of ability and worth, scholarly in
his habits and tastes, and a faithful worker in this vineyard
of the Lord. He lived in the old Dr. Spaulding house, at
the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Clark Street.

He was accustomed to receive boys into his family and to
prepare them for college. Ezra Stiles Gannett, the famous
Boston preacher, was one of the lads who passed a year in
that old house under his instruction and care. Beyond the
Centennial sermon, on the anniversary of the incorporation
of Lexington in 171 3> there is nothing remaining of his
literary productions in our possession. That historical dis-
course is, certainly, an able and creditable piece of work,
adding much to our knowledge of the early life which
would otherwise have been lost. When it was preached
there were those living here who remembered Parson Han-
cock, and nearly all the congregation had been the parish-
ioners of Jonas Clarke. Mr. Francis Wyman was probably
the last who remembered Mr. Clarke. A few still Unger
among us who remember Avery Williams. Four lives,
therefore, easily cover the period between us and Benjamin
Estabrook, the first minister of Lexington.

Rev. James Walker, afterwards pastor of the Harvard
Church in Charlestown, and later, President of Harvard
University, was invited to succeed Mr. Williams, but
declined. Rev. Charles Briggs was finally chosen and
remained the pastor until 1835, a period of sixteen years.

38 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

«
He was the last of the ministers whose parish included the

whole town. During his ministry two other churches were
organized in the town, the Baptist and the Church at East
Lexington. Mr. Briggs lived in a portion of the house
now belonging to Mr. James F. Russell and occupied' as a
hotel. He had quite a farm, extending back toward the
Scotland Schoolhouse and covering the land now occupied
by the village at the Crossing.

During much of the time of Mr. Briggs' ministry he was
in poor health and unable to render the efficient service
which the church needed. His pastorate was terminated
at his own request and with the expression of kind and gen-
erous feeling on the part of the people. Rev. William G.
Swett succeeded him, a man still pleasantly remembered in
the town ; somewhat eccentric, but of a genial spirit, fond
of a good story or joke and full of sympathy and kindness.
He endeared himself to the young people and was the
friend and helper of all ; a man of scholarly and brilliant
mind. His ministry covered only three years and came to
an end in 1839. His niece, a sister's daughter, is living in
Florence, Italy, where she has won an honorable reputa-
tion as an artist and as an authoress. Ruskin has taken a
warm interest in her career, and wrote an introduction for
two or three little volumes of her sketches of Italian life
and character, under the title of " Wayside Songs in Tus-
cany," a series of short but charming stories. The books
are in the Cary Library.

After a period of five or six years, in which the pulpit
was supplied by Rev. Messrs. Rice, Knapp, Crufts and
Samuel J. May, the First Parish was separated wholly from
the town, and incorporated as the First Congregational
Society of Lexington, which is still its name. Up to that
time, all its business affairs, the calling of a minister, the

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 39

payment of his salary, the repairs upon the meeting-house,
were transacted under town warrants, in town meeting, giv-
ing rise to endless bickering and strife. The Society was
immediately reorganized, an invitation given to Rev. Jason
Whitman to become its pastor and the work of improving
and reconstructing the meeting-house begun. Mr. Whit-
man accepted the invitation and was installed in July,
1845, entering upon his ministry under the most hopeful
circumstances. In the prime of life, full of enthusiasm,
devoted to his work, after several years of experience in
Portland and Saco, Me., with fine powers as a preacher
and pastor, his ministry opened with every promise of large
and high success. But after a brief service of two years
and a half, he was suddenly smitten down in the midst of
great usefulness and his ministry here transferred to a
brighter one in the world above. The meeting-house,
thoroughly repaired and refurnished, was burned to the
ground on Dec. 17, 1846, just before it was to be rededi-
cated. It was a severe blow to the Society and caused
years of litigation and trouble. The Baptist Society imme-
diately offered the use of their house, which offer was grate-
fully accepted and there was held the funeral of the beloved
pastor, Mr. Whitman, in January, 1848.

Steps were immediately taken to erect a new house of
worship, and the fourth meeting-house of the parish was
built on Elm Ave., where it remains unto this day. It was
dedicated Feb. 25, 1848, one month after Mr. Whitman's
funeral.

Rev. Fiske Barrett succeeded Mr. Whitman in a brief
ministry of nearly three years, terminated at his own
request. He was followed by Rev. N A. Staples who
remained for a similar period and then accepted a call to a
church in Milwaukee where he ministered until the opening

40 CAMBRIDGE FARMS.

of the Civil War, when he entered the army as Chaplain of
the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment. Here a severe illness,
brought on by the exposure and hardship of camp Ufe,
broke him down so utterly that he never recovered. He
became pastor of the Second Unitarian Church in Brook-
lyn, N. Y., where he died in February, 1864, in his thirty-
third year.

Rev. Leonard J. Livermore succeeded Mr. Staples in
Lexington, in October, 1857, and continued in the service
of the Society for nine years, resigning in September, 1866.
He afterwards became pastor of the Unitarian Church in
Danvers, where he ministered until his death in June, 1886,
after a pastorate of nearly twenty years.

The ministry of Rev. Henry Westcott followed that of
Mr. Livermore, in Lexington, and extended from June,
1867 until June, 1881, when he resigned, a period of four-
teen years. Subsequently he was installed over the
Unitarian Church in Melrose, and died suddenly, after a
prosperous pastorate, in June, 1883, in the prime of his
years.

This brings the record down to the settlement of the
present pastor. Rev. C. A. Staples, October 31, 1881, and
the story, altogether, covers two full centuries.

The average length of the pastorates has been fourteen
years. 2402 funerals are recorded in our church books and
664 marriages. Rev. John Hancock and his son recorded
645 funerals and 60 marriages. Rev. Jonas Clarke re-
corded 556 funerals of which 202, or over 36 per cent, are
of infants and children, and 218 marriages.

I have recorded 238 funerals, of which barely 7 per cent,
are of children under 12 years, and 59 weddings.

I quote these statistics from our records to show that a
vast gain has been made in the care and preservation of
child-life in these 200 years.

CAMBRIDGE FARMS. 41

I wish I could show, clearly, as large a gain in the moral
life of the town, and yet I am inclined to believe that it
has really taken place, and I hope, sometime, to be able to
prove it.

May the old parish and all other parishes in the town be
ever reaching out and pressing on towards better life for
body, mind and soul in their people, and a better life for the
state and the nation.

CHARLES FOLLEN.

Read bv James P. Munroe, March 12, 1891.

It is sometimes noted with regret, almost with apology,
that Lexington has not on the rolls of her citizens such
great names as those of which Concord can boast. To
few towns, indeed, has it been given to shelter an Emerson
and a Hawthorne ; but Lexington can point to two men,
besides her heroes of the Revolution, who gave themselves,
heart and soul, to the progress of liberty, to the cause of
the injured slave. Theodore Parker and Charles Follen
died too soon to see the results of their great labors in the
cause of freedom ; but their names will live forever in the
catalogue of those who maintained, in the face of every
obstacle, the right, and who " would be heard."

Charles Follen, whose whole name was Karl Theodor
Christian Follenius, was born in Romrod, Hesse, not far
from Frankfort, September 4, 1796. His father was a
counsellor-at-law at Giessen, near which Romrod is situ-
ated, and was a man of ability and influence. His mother
died when he was three years old, leaving three sons — of
whom Charles was the second — and a daughter. Four
years later his father married again, and this stepmother
showed wise and loving devotion to her husband's children.
Nevertheless, Charles Follen's childhood was not happy.
Of a sensitive, serious, almost morbid nature, like children
of that stamp, he was little understood. He overcame this
disadvantage, however, and, after passing through the
usual courses of study, entered, at sixteen years of age, the
University of Giessen. Just at that time, the German

CHARLES POLLEN. 43

states having roused themselves from the paralysis of
Napoleon's successes, and having been given courage, by
his disastrous Russian campaign, to declare war against
him, the students of the universities were called to arms.
Soon after the Battle of Leipsic, Charles and his two
brothers joined a rifle corps of students. Charles was not
called upon to fight, but his elder brother won military dis-
tinction.

The feeling of nationality aroused by this appeal to arms
against Bonaparte was not to be readily quenched. The
success of the uprising against the invader had shown how
much of good a union of petty principalities might accom-
plish ; a short experience of the Code Napoleon had given
some of the states a taste of representative government,
and the close of the campaign against the French found
the German youth ripe for revolution. The sectional spirit
theretofore strong in Germany, had been greatly fostered
by the organization of the university students into societies
upon sectional lines. The student in Germany has a far
larger influence upon politics than in America, and the
rivalry and duels between members of the different corps
did much to perpetuate the disunion of the Teutonic states.

In order that they might secure a larger measure of free-
dom for themselves and the other Germans, the wiser
students saw that they must break down these silly corps
barriers ; and Follen early associated himself with them in
forming the Burschenschaft, a union of students from all
parts of Germany to oppose and destroy the sectional and
partisan societies. The leaders of the old corps were
highly incensed at this independent action ; and they were
especially bitter against Follen, who, in addition to his
activity in the new society, had, by the purity and diligence
of his own life, made silent protest against the prevailing

44 CHARLES POLLEN.

license and idleness of the universities. They challenged
him again and again to broadsword duels, hoping to break
his spirit, but he courageously accepted all challenges, hav-
ing made himself a master of athletic exercises under the
training of the famous gymnast, Jung. At last the Bur-
schenschaft was reported to the government as treasonable
in its tendency, and the rectors of the universities were
called upon to investigate it. Needless to say, they found
no evidence of guilt. Thereupon Follen published a pam-
phlet setting forth the objects and acts of the Burschen-
schaft, a pamphlet which is interesting in that it shows him,
at twenty-one, imbued with the strong love of liberty and
fair play which distinguished him through life. In this
same year, 1817, he received the degree of Doctor of Civil
and Ecclesiastical Law.

Hardly had he begun the practice of his profession than
he again took up the cause of freedom and justice. The
Grand Duke of Hesse had issued a decree relative to the
collection of debts, into the details of which it is unneces-
sary to go, but the result of which would have been to take
away the last semblance of local self-government. The
burgomasters of the several towns begged Follen to pre-
sent a petition from them, praying that this decree be
rescinded, and to argue the justice of this petition. This
task Follen readily and successfully undertook, though, in
doing so, he knew he forfeited all chance for promotion in
his native country. Indeed, his bold course in the matter
subjected him at once to persecution from the government,
so that he found it advisable to leave Giessen. He went
thence to Jena to lecture upon jurisprudence. He was well
received in Jena ; but six months after his arrival occurred
the murder of Kotzebue. This poet and playwright, who
was much in vogue, had, by his satire of the young Ger-

CHARLES POLLEN. 45

man liberal party, given rise to the suspicion of being a
Russian spy, in the pay of the autocratic party. Therefore
a fanatic named Sand murdered him. All the friends of
Sand, including Follen, were at once arrested. Follen was
found, of course, innocent of all connection with the crime ;
yet, four months later, and in the middle of the night, he
was again arrested. Examined, cross-questioned, and con-
fronted with Sand, in the hope of proving him guilty, he
was nevertheless acquitted, but was forbidden again to lec-
ture in Jena. Finding that the influence of his father
and of other powerful friends at Giessen, whither he had
returned, could not save him, Follen left Germany for
Paris, where he became intimate with Lafayette. There
again occurred a political murder to drive him away. The
Bourbon Duke de Berri was assassinated, and immediately
all foreigners without definite business in France were
ordered to leave the country. Follen went to Switzerland,
accepted a professorship in one of the cantonal schools,
but, spreading doctrines unwelcome to the Calvinist clergy,
was soon asked to resign. He was then called to the Uni-
versity of Basle to lecture upon law. There he was most
happily placed ; but this mild youth after having suffered
persecution from his fellow-students, from the Grand Duke
of Hesse, from the French government and the Calvinistic
synod, was now to encounter the thunders of the " Holy
Alliance." Russia, Austria and Prussia, having joined, and,
with England's help, put down Napoleon, now maintained
their "holy" alliance for the suppression of freedom
throughout Europe. On the 27th of August, 1824, the
three governments sent notes to the Canton of Basle
demanding that Follen, who ceaselessly preached liberty,
be given up for trial. These notes were accompanied by a
request from the government of Berne, urging Basle, for

46 CHARLES FOLLEN.

the sake of Switzerland's safety, to surrender him. Basle,
however, refused. Thereupon came a second formal de-
mand from the allied powers threatening the Republic and
supplemented by notes of urgency from Berne, Zurich and
Lucerne. This was too much even for courageous little
Basle, and Follen was warned by the authorities to flee.
This he refused to do, and demanded a trial ; whereupon
the Canton ordered his arrest. Upon this, urged by his
friends, he made his escape, leaving behind him the follow-
ing declaration :

"Whereas the Republic of Switzerland, which has pro-
tected so many fugitive princes, noblemen and priests,
would not protect him, who, like them, is a republican, he
is compelled to take refuge in the great asylum of liberty,
the United States of America. His false accusers he sum-
mons before the tribunal of God and public opinion. Laws
he has never violated. But the heinous crime of having
loved his country has rendered him guilty to such a degree,
that he feels quite unworthy to be pardoned by the Holy
Alliance."

His friends assisted in every way in his escape, one tak-
ing him out of the city concealed under the boot of his
chaise, another, who resembled him, giving up to him his
passport, and at Havre, Captain Allen of the " Cadmus,"
the vessel which had just returned from taking Lafayette
to America, affording him every protection.

Follen landed in New York in December, 1824, and he
says : " I wanted to kneel upon the ground, and kiss it and
cling to it with my hands, lest it should even then escape
my grasp." How soon was he to find what a mockery our
boasted freedom at that time was ! Immediately upon
arriving he wrote to Lafayette, who gave him letters and
advised him to go to Boston. Before doing this, he

CHARLES POLLEN. 47

devoted himself to the study of English, and was so extra-
ordinarily successful that in less than a year he was able
fluently to deliver, in Boston, a course of lectures on the
Civil Law. As one reads his writings it is a matter of
astonishment to note the ease and skill with which he han-
dles our idiomatic tongue. Only once in many pages does
he betray his foreign birth.

In the fall of 1825 Follen was appointed a teacher of
German at Harvard College, and later he was made head of
a gymnasium in Boston. He began at the same time the
preparation of a grammar and reader of the German lang-
uage which was subsequently in extensive use. Every-
where he met with much kindness, his intimacy with
Lafayette opening to him many doors which his own worth
and talents kept afterwards ajar. Soon after his arrival he
met, through the introduction of his friend Miss Sedgwick,
Miss Eliza Lee Cabot, to whom he was later married.

During the following winter he met Dr. Channing, who
at once exerted a tremendous influence upon Follen, so
much so that soon, under Channing's urgency, he decided
to prepare for the ministry. To that end, he spent the
Summer of 1827 at Newport studying under Channing's
direction. In the following year, having meanwhile kept
up his work at Harvard and in the gymnasium, he was for-
mally admitted as a candidate for the ministry. He now
not only was anxious to preach, but, having been betrothed
to Miss Cabot, he was in haste to marry. By taking, in
addition to his other duties, the position of instructor in
Ecclesiastical History and Ethics, both wishes were real-
ized. On September 15, 1828 he was married, and in
March, 1830, to his great joy, he was naturalized a citizen
of the United States.

In the Summer of 1830 he preached at Newburyport and

48 CHARLES FOLLEN.

was invited to settle there ; but just then Harvard College,
upon the presentation of the sum of five hundred dollars a
year for five years, had agreed to found a professorship of
German Literature and to ask Follen to fill it. At last
everything seemed prosperous ; he had apparently an as-
sured and honorable position, the atmosphere of Cambridge
was congenial, his wife and child were well and happy.
Therefore, he prepared to make this his life-work, pur-
chased land, and built a house. But a chance conversation
with a poor negro affected him so strongly that he went to
see Garrison in that famous little attic printing-house, and
the whole course of his life was changed. He began to
realize that the Declaration of Independence was a living
lie, that America was free only in name ; and, less than two
years later, he joined the Anti-Slavery Society, then but a
year old. That he knew how much this step involved is
shown by his saying to Mrs. Follen : " If I join the Anti-
Slavery Society I shall certainly lose all chance of a perma-
nent place in the College or perhaps anywhere else."
Later he said : "I did not feel at liberty to stand aloof
from a Society whose only object was the abolition of slav-
ery." Shortly afterwards, in January, 1834, he was chosen
chairman of a committee to draft an address on the sub-
ject of slavery. It is a splendid piece of writing, clear,
calm, logical, pitiless in its serenity. It never stoops to
invective, never appeals to passion, but finds its arguments
in the Declaration of Independence, in the natural rights of
man, in human justice. In summing up, he says, in part :
" You who believe in the Gospel of redemption, you who
believe that the day will come when we must all appear
before the judgment-seat of Christ, how will you stand
before Him who tries and judges the heart.? . . . When a
band of those, who in your day and generation were kept in

CHARLES FOLLEN. 49

slavery, shall rise on the right hand of the Judge to witness
against you, do you think that the testimony of the colored
man, rejected here, will be rejected also in the Court of
Eternal Justice ? Or do you believe that you may evade
the sentence of the Judge by pleading that you attended to
all the bodily wants and comforts of the slave, . . . when
you refused food and clothing, freedom, respect and love to
the immortal soul ? Or, do you think yourselves safe under
the plea that you yourselves were not slaveholders, . . .
when in any degree it depended on your exertions to put an
end to the very existence of slavery in this world ? "

'* You to whom the destinies of this country are com-
mitted ... if you are Republicans, not by birth only, but
from principle, then let the avenues, all the avenues of
light and liberty, of truth and love, be opened wide to every
soul within the nation, — that the bitterest curse of millions
may no longer be that they were born and bred in ' the
land of the free and the home of the brave. ' "

During these years he was warned again and again that
the public expression of his opinions would ruin his pros-
pects at Harvard. His only answer was : " Is this my
duty .? What will be its consequences is a secondary mat-
ter." The warnings were too true. At the end of the five
years when the original subscription to found the professor-
ship of German literature had expired, he asked if his posi-
tion was to be continued. The answer came that it was
considered inexpedient, but that he might, if he chose,
resume his original place as a teacher of German, at 1^500
a year. He could not, of course, accept this humiliating
proposal, and, after ten years of faithful service to the col-
lege, he must again look for means to earn his bread. He
planned to start a school, but poverty forbade. He lec-
tured, gave lessons and preached here and there, among

50 CHARLES POLLEN.

other places in East Lexington. The first recorded meet-
ing of the people there for public worship was on April 5,
1835, and, on that and the following two Sundays, Charles
Follen preached. Ralph Waldo Emerson probably had
preached earlier, as he did later, to the people of the vill-
age, though the record, beyond that of tradition, is not pre-
served.

Just as his professorship expired, Mr. Follen received an
invitation to superintend the education of the sons of Mr.
James Perkins. He accepted the offer, as it promised com-
petence and freedom, but, in doing so, he wrote at some
length to their guardian, setting forth his views on educa-
tion and the manner in which he purposed dealing with
these boys. In this letter he says :

..." If I undertook the superintendence of their educa-
ion. ... I should feel bound to educate them not only for
college but for life ; I should study their natures, awake
every dormant energy, cherish every generous sentiment,
and lead them to form such habits and tastes as would
qualify them to act an honorable part in those relations in
life which they would be called upon to sustain. I should
endeavor not only to furnish them with general informa-
tion, but to discover any individual talent and taste that, by
proper cultivation, might give to their pursuits in after life
a decided direction to some practical object. For I believe
that to a young man called to the possession of wealth
there is no temptation so great as that which arises from
having no decided object in life, no pursuit that occupies his
mind in his many hours of leisure."

This arrangement was a very happy one, and the life of
the Follens and their three young charges at Watertown
and at Milton, was wholly satisfactory ; but at the end of
a year the necessity of dividing his authority with others

CHARLES FOLLEN. 51

impelled Dr. Follen to relinquish this congenial task. His
almost morbid conscience would not allow him to continue
in an arrangement that did not permit of his doing his duty,
as he saw it, to the fullest extent.

During this happy year the Pollens became intimate with
Harriet Martineau, who was making her well-known jour-
ney through the United States. Her influence, together
with that of the mobbing of Garrison, moved Dr. Follen to
even bolder expression of his anti-slavery views. On Janu-
ary 20, 1836, he made a stirring address before the Anti-
Slavery Society in support of the following resolutions :
" Resolved, That we consider the anti-slavery cause as
the cause of philanthropy, with regard to which all human
beings, white men and colored men, citizens and foreigners,
men and women, have the same duties and the same
rights." This he advocated in opposition to the movement
to exclude negroes, foreigners and women from fellowship
in the work.

Soon thereafter the Governor of Massachusetts, in his
annual message, censured the abolitionists ; the legislatures
of some of the Southern States formally asked that they be
suppressed, and action was therefore taken. A committee
of the General Court was appointed to investigate their
doings and to recommend procedure. The Anti-Slavery
Society immediately appointed a committee to appear be-
fore this legislative committee, and, if possible, to avert
action against the abolitionists. For this duty were chosen
Garrison, May, Ellis Gray Loring, William Goodell and
Charles Follen.

The following summer was spent at Stockbridge. While
there, an invitation came from the parish of the First Uni-
tarian Church of New York City to preach to them. This
offer he accepted, and October 30, 1836, he was ordained

52 CHARLES POLLEN.

at Dr. Channing's church in Boston, Mr. Caleb Stetson
preaching the ordination sermon. Follen was greatly be-
loved in his New York parish and all went well until
Thanksgiving Day, when, in the course of his sermon, he
touched upon slavery. His remarks disturbed and angered
many of the congregation, two members leaving with much
ostentation. Only a few lines setting forth truths perfectly
obvious then as now ; but courageous words to utter before
a New York audience in 1836! Their result was shown
at the meeting of the pewholders six months later. Of
this Dr. Follen's diary says : " Meeting of pewholders :
result of vote. Shall Dr. F. be invited to remain with us .-' —
Yeas, 27 ; nays, 16." Nevertheless it was so strongly
represented to him that the better parishioners wished him
to remain that he consented to stay a year longer. A busy,
useful year it was. Not only was his preaching satisfac-
tory, but the influence of himself and his wife upon the
parish and in behalf of the poor was productive of the high-
est good. He continued, however, to speak fearlessly
against slavery, and at the expiration of this second year
the opposition to his ministry had gained such strength that
he declined to be a candidate for the permanent pastorate
of the church.

He returned to Boston and occupied himself in lecturing,
in occasional preaching and in writing a book which he had
long had in view, — a treatise on psychology. He formed
plans, too, for a journey to Switzerland in the summer,
being assured that it was safe for him to return there.
His arrangements for this holiday were already made when
he received an urgent request from the society at East Lex-
ington to become their minister for a year if possible', or at
least for six months. They represented to him that they
were too poor to pay more than a very small salary, but

CHARLES POLLEN. 53

that, unless he came to gather them together, the feeble
parish would fall to pieces. With his usual spirit of self-
sacrifice and in a hope that he might, perhaps, found here
an ideal, unsectarian, Christian church, he gave up his cher-
ished trip to Switzerland and accepted the call to East
Lexington .

He had stipulated that he should not be held to the
usual parish duties, and he hoped now to carry out his long-
deferred plan of finishing his treatise on psychology. A
large and comfortable house — that just beyond the present
church — had been taken for him, the people of the parish
lent ready hands to put it in order, and once more his be-
loved books, so many times packed away in his various
changes of residence, were spread around him. He looked
forward to a long summer of literary work ; but at once his
active, sympathetic nature became deeply concerned in the
affairs of the village, the earnest project for erecting a
meeting-house enlisted his heartiest interest, and almost
immediately he found himself wholly engaged in preparing
plans for the building, in begging assistance from his many
wealthy and influential friends, and in helping the people
make preparations for the great fair that was to add materi-
ally to the building fund. So active was his parish that
on the Fourth of July after his arrival, ground was broken
for the new edifice. He was immensely interested in its
progress, watching its growth from day to day with a pleas-
ure doubled by the fact of his being its architect. He had
highest hopes and plans for his adopted town and had in-
duced some of his friends, should he remain, to build in
East Lexington, as he himself had made his preparations
to do. It is said that among these friends was Wendell
Phillips, who had selected a site. So great was the power
of Pollen's strong, gentle nature over every one with whom

54 CHARLES POLLEN.

he came in contact, that, had he been spared to live and
work in East Lexington, his influence upon our town would
undoubtedly have been most extraordinary. That his pres-
ence here for less than a year made so deep and lasting an
impression is sufficient proof of this.

Finally the church building was so far advanced that
preparations were made for its dedication. Follen writes
to Dr. Channing, under date of October ii, 1839: "My
affairs in this village are essentially the same The people
have formed themselves into a society under the name of
the Christian Association of East Lexington. They have
passed a vote to request me to continue with them, promis-
ing to increase my salary as soon as it is in their power.
The new church will be ready for dedication probably
about the middle or the latter part of November. It is to
be a temple of freedom, and as such, commends itself to
you, and I trust it will be dedicated by you to its service."

But the building was somewhat delayed, and, having
been asked to give a course of lectures in New York, which
would necessitate an absence of several weeks, the dedica-
tion was postponed until January 15, 1840. Mrs. Follen
and their son accompanied him to New York. Soon after
their arrival Mrs. Follen was taken dangerously ill and it
was soon evident that it would be impossible for her to re-
turn to Lexington in time for the dedication. He wrote at
once, therefore, to the committee of the church, asking
that the ceremony be postponed a week, representing to
them not only that Mrs. FoUen's absence would be a mat-
ter of regret to him, but also that it would be necessary for
him to return to New York for her should they find it im-
possible to defer the dedication. He left the question,
however, entirely to their decision, and, most unhappily as
events proved, the committee concluded that it was not for

CHARLES POLLEN. 55

the best interests of the church to delay its opening. Dr.
Follen, though much disappointed, appreciated their posi-
tion and cheerfully made his preparations for the journey.
The steamboat " Lexington " on which he had gone to
New York, was considered very unsafe ; therefore, to
satisfy Mrs. Follen, who had unhappy forebodings of dis-
aster, he made every inquiry concerning the vessel, only to
meet assurances from those competent to judge, of her en-
tire safety. He set off, however, with a heavy heart, de-
ciding at the last moment not to take his son who, it had
been planned, should accompany him. The " Lexington "
left New York on Monday. Dr. Follen not having arrived
on Wednesday, and all preparations having been made, the
dedication services were regretfully held without him. The
next day came the dreadful news that the " Lexington "
had been burned in Long Island Sound, and that only four
of all those on board had been rescued. Dr. Follen was
not among the saved. On the 13th of January, 1840, be-
fore he had reached his forty-fourth year, this great soul
which had done so much and in whose power it was to do
so much more for humanity, was, through dreadful bodily
torture, taken away.

Follen was not, apparently, a great preacher. His mind
was of that German type which is slow, painstaking, insis-
tent upon details, and profoundly metaphysical. His ear-
lier discourses were too transcendental for the ordinary
mind ; and, when he appreciated his mistake, he went, per-
haps, too far in the opposite direction, dwelling exhaustively
upon minor things. He is criticised, on the one hand, for
being difficult to understand, and, on the other, of leading
the mind too slowly from point to point of his argument.
He labored, moreover, under the disadvantage of foreign
birth, in that he was slow of speech and precise to a fault

56 CHARLES FOLLEN.

in his delivery. But these are petty matters. It was the
man himself who conquered. It was his personality that
brought every one connected with him so completely under
his gentle sway. His face betrays the secret of his power,
that face which Whittier describes :

" The calm brow through the parted hair,
The gentle lips which knew no guile,
Softening the blue eyes' thoughtful care
With the bland beauty of their smile."

Humanly speaking, he was almost absolutely good. His
nature was so thoroughly rounded that it seems contra-
dictory ; one may speak of it as an antithesis. He was
absolutely fearless, yet gentle as a little child ; stern and
uncompromising toward the wrong, yet mild and forbear-
ing as a saint. He was positive and unshakable in his be-
liefs, yet courteous and tolerant to all ; exquisitely refined,
almost womanish in his tastes, yet closely sympathetic with
the beggared and outcast. He was extraordinarily do-
mestic, so that his home life was idyllic, yet all mankind
was his first and dearest charge. He was metaphysical,
almost mystical, and nevertheless, in matters of daily life,
of homely help and training, he was intensely practical. In
short, he was the ideal man, combining moral, intellectual
and physical attributes rarely found united in one person.
If his short life was unsuccessful it was from no lack of the
qualities which make for honest and enduring success. He
failed, if one calls it failure, because he was ahead of his
time, and because he would not bend principle to expedi-
ency. He was cheerful and contented under adversity and
misrepresentation, not because he was mean-spirited, but
because his lofty nature could not lose its sunniness. He
had a sort of serene and holy persistency that, he knew.

CHARLES POLLEN. 57

would conquer in the end ; he believed in the final triumph
of right and he was content to wait. That he would have
triumphed had he lived it is impossible to doubt.

What Lexington lost by his untimely death it is idle to
speculate upon. How great a blow the anti-slavery cause
received it is easier to see. The cause needed just such
men as he, — cool, logical, careful of the prejudices of
others but, none the less, fearless and burning with zeal.
He was opposed, as Channing and many others were
opposed, to Garrison's methods, and he would have sup-
plied, perhaps, more than any one else could supply, the
qualities of temper which were wanted to balance Garri-
son's vehemence. He could not have failed to be a con-
spicuous and commanding figure in the momentous years
which followed his death. But, like Koerner, the poet
whom in his youth he knew and loved, he died before his
work could be accomplished. Follen's last writing was to
translate, in East Lexington, a poem written by Koerner
as he lay dying on the battlefield. It is singularly fitted to
Dr. Follen himself, and with this beautiful thought we will
leave him :

" This smarting wound, — these lips so pale and chill, —
My heart, with faint and fainter beating, says,
I stand upon the border of my days.
Amen. My God, I own Thy holy will.
The golden dreams that once my soul did fill,
The songs of mirth become sepulchral lays.
Faith ! Faith ! That truth which all my spirit sways,
Yonder, as here, must live within me still ;
And what I held as sacred here below,
What I embraced with quick and youthful glow,
Whether I called it liberty or love,
A seraph bright I see it stand above ;
And, as my senses slowly pass away,
A breath transports me to the Realms of Day."

ORIGIN OF THE LEXINGTON AND WEST
CAMBRIDGE BRANCH RAILROAD.

Read by George Y. Wellington, December, 13, 1898.

The early history of the Lexington and West Cambridge
Railroad, before the organization under its charter, has been
prepared from the original papers, in the possession of the
late William Wilkins Warren, who took an active part in
the proceedings of the citizens of West Cambridge [now
Arlington]. To them belongs the credit of originating the
measures which led to the realization of the enterprise.

The success of branch roads and their benefit to towns,
instancing the Woburn Branch, caused the subject to be
agitated among a few of the leading and influential citizens
of West Cambridge, early in 1844. Especially from the
fact that it required less than two miles of road to be built
from a point on the Charlestown Branch Railroad in Cam-
bridge, with terminus opposite the Hotel on Main Street,
West Cambridge, without crossing it or creating any con-
siderable amount of land damage. The stock would all
readily be taken up in the town.

The first public meeting held was in response to a printed
hand-bill signed " A Citizen," and dated September 16,
1844, of which the following is a copy : West Cambridge
Branch Railroad. " The citizens of West Cambridge
one and all are invited to meet at the Parish Hall in said
town on Monday evening next, September 23, at 7 o'clock,
to consider the expediency of adopting measures for a
branch railroad either from the Fresh Pond or Fitchburg
Railroads to the centre of the town. A general attendance

LEXINGTON BRANCH RAILROAD. 59

is expected, as it is deemed by many a subject of vast im-
portance to the town."

Pursuant to this notice a large number attended the
meeting, at which Col. Thomas Russell presided, and Wil-
liam W. Warren was chosen secretary. The Hon. James
Russell, Dr. Timothy Wellington, John Schouler and sev-
eral others advocated the building of the road, to terminate
near the Unitarian Meeting House, with a view ultimately
to having it extended to the upper part of the town, from
thence to Lexington. A resolution of its expediency was
adopted, and a committee of seven was appointed to get
information, examine the routes, and report at a future
meeting. The secretary of this committee, Mr. Warren,
by an attractively printed poster, called a meeting to hear
the report and adopt measures necessary to the immediate
construction of the road.

At the meeting October 14, 1844, Hon. James Russell,
who was chosen chairman, read a full report of the
committee, which reported two routes, one east of the
Pond, and one crossing the island in Spy Pond, and recom-
mending a survey and estimate of cost, also a committee to
obtain subscriptions to defray the expenses. The report
was accepted and Hon. James Russell, Dr. Timothy Wel-
lington and John Schouler were chosen as a committee on
survey and drawings of the road ; George C. Russell and
Henry Whittemore, as a committee on estimates. The re-
ports of these committees were made at a meeting held
January 13, 1845.

The committee on survey had employed Messrs. Felton
and Parker, engineers, to survey, make profiles, and give
estimates, for which service seventy dollars were paid them .
They had met and consulted with the president and direc-
tors of the Charlestown and Fresh Pond Railroad, who took

60 LEXINGTON BRANCH RAILROAD.

the matter under favorable advisement, as to the proposed
connection with their road, and were to have given their
reply. The committee had long waited for a reply, when
it was ascertained that some prominent citizens of Lexing-
ton had urged the ofificers of the Charlestown Branch
Railroad not to commit themselves to the citizens of West
Cambridge, until it should be determined whether the citi-
zens of Lexington should or should not petition the Legis-
lature for a railroad, over the route surveyed, to West
Cambridge, to extend to Lexington. Such a project had al-
ready been determined upon, and under the circumstances,
the committee asked to be discharged from the subject
matter, which was done.

A petition for the West Cambridge Branch Railroad,
signed by Timothy Wellington and others, and orders of
notice, were passed by the Senate and the House, January
i6, 1845. At a hearing on both petitions, one for the West
Cambridge Branch Railroad, the other for the Lexington
and West Cambridge Branch Railroad, in March, 1845, be-
fore the committee of the Legislature, Hon. George Wash-
ington Warren appeared for the Lexington petitioners and
William Wilkins Warren for the West Cambridge peti-
tioners. It was agreed by a compromise that the two en-
terprises be merged in one, and an act of incorporation was
prepared and presented this same month, which, in the
House Document No. 48, was passed under the title of the
Lexington and West Cambridge Branch Railroad Company.

Under this act the first meeting of the new corporation
took place at Cutler's Tavern, in Lexington, April 14, 1845.
Larkin Turner was chosen president, and William Wilkins
Warren secretary of the meeting. The Act of Incorpora-
tion was accepted, and a committee of nine gentlemen were
chosen, consisting of Benjamin Muzzey and Samuel Chand-

LEXINGTON BRANCH RAILROAD. 6l

ler of Lexington, Timothy Wellington and John Schouler
of West Cambridge, John Wesson and John W. Mulliken
of Charlestown, Edmund Munroe and Otis Dana of Boston,
and J. W. Simonds of Bedford, to cause subscription books
to be opened May i, 1845, for subscriptions to capital stock
not to exceed $200,000. The meeting then adjourned to
meet April 21, 1845, in the Parish Hall, West Cambridge,
to confer with the citizens of this town. This conference
meeting was largely attended and indicated a mutual in-
terest and good feeling on the part of both towns. Ben-
jamin Muzzey, who presided, and William Wilkins Warren
acting as secretary, stated that no business was contem-
plated at this meeting, only an interchange of views de-
sired. Estimates were discussed, and harmony prevailed
in the discussion among the citizens of both towns, indi-
cating a prompt action and successful commencement of
the railroad which, by the Compromise Act, was to be
finished and running from West Cambridge within one year
from date of the Act, or its charter would be void. The
adjournment of this meeting was the finality of the series
preceding the organization of this railroad, under its charter.
This full account of the origin of the Lexington and
West Cambridge Railroad, has been taken from the orig-
inal reports of William Wilkins Warren, who was secre-
tary of the different meetings ; he preserved all of the orig-
inal papers, and gave them, to be preserved at his death, to
Mrs. Sophronia Russell; her son, Frank F. Russell, loaned
them to me, and they will become the property of the Ar-
lington Historical Society.

SOME MEMORIES
OF THE LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

Read by Miss Mary E. Hudson, February 13, 1900.

The year 1900, on which we have just entered, marks off
a quarter of a century since Lexington celebrated her great
Centennial Day. To those not personally interested, the
celebration, with its great successes and its many mistakes,
is fast becoming an event of ancient history. Before the
memory of that day quite vanishes in the mists of antiq-
uity, it may not be time misspent to recall briefly a few
incidents connected with its observance.

There were, as you know, no women on that Centennial
Committee, but one greatly overworked sub-committee, the
Committee on Invitations, so far honored with an asso-
ciate membership the writer of this paper as to accept, with
much avidity, such degree of clerical assistance as it was
in her power to render. Thus it befell that one favored
woman became involved in a maze of records and of corre-
spondence, both personal and ofificial, from which extrica-
tion was impossible till the eventful day was over ; and
thus it is that, from a woman's pen, are given you these
few rambling reminiscences — for they are nothing more —
of Lexington's great Centennial.

Those ofificially authorized to do the work have given us
in detail the story of the day. Out of the many memories
of the busy weeks which preceded the 19th of April, 1875,
1 shall simply recall a few of the more prominent, as giving
some poor idea of the work, worry and perplexity out of
which the celebration was evolved.

\exington centennial. 63

Twenty-five years ago, the 19th of April had not become
a public holiday. The happy day of the balloon man and
the lunch wagon, the Moxie cart and the peanut stand, had
not yet dawned upon our favored town. Lexington still
celebrated, in her own quiet, delightful way, and with the
assistance of her own personal friends, the events which
had given her world-wide renown.

But the year 1875 brought the hundredth anniversary of
her historic day and demanded a wider and more public
recognition. A fruitless attempt was early made to
arrange for a union of Lexington and Concord in a joint
celebration which should be equally honorable to both.
When this proved impossible, Lexington bent all her
energies toward making her own observance of the day
worthy of the great event to be commemorated. Out of
the great committee appointed early in 1874, how many
sub-divisions were made I dare not try to tell. Suffice it
to say they represented every section of our town and
included our most honored names in their list of members.

What problems confronted these unhappy men, what
demands were made upon their time, their wisdom and
their patience, only the survivors of that honorable body
can now adequately understand.

It was near midwinter before matters seemed to assume
any very definite shape, and I think the first really tangible
achievement of the Committee was the securing of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, as escort for the
procession. That success meant much for Lexington. It
meant that those mighty warriors, in all their martial splen-
dor, with Brown's famous Brigade Band, should head our
great procession. It also meant three hundred and fifty
dinner tickets, an aggregate somewhat appalling to our
thrifty dinner committee. Still Lexington's hospitality

64 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

knew no stint on that memorable day, and the Ancients
were made welcome to the best our town could give. I
need not recall the long and anxious consultations out
of which grew our great centennial procession ; but one
feature of that parade came very near the hearts of our
people and deserves a passing mention. The Lexington
Minute Men ! Who does not recall, with something of
the old-time enthusiasm, that beautiful vision of buff and
blue, so vividly suggesting what Washington's Continen-
tals might have been had they not been ragged and rusty
and foot-sore .-* The career of our Minute Men was brilliant
but too brief. As quickly as they rose, so speedily they
disappeared. Sometimes, in these later days, when some
festal anniversary makes such a costume appropriate, there
still flashes before our admiring eyes, on the person of
some youthful patriot, the old familiar uniform, inherited
from the Centennial Day ; but the Lexington Minute Men
of 1875 are gone from our sight to return no more. In
Cary Library is still preserved the handsome silk flag pre-
sented to the Minute Men by the descendants of Ensign
Robert Munroe.

The busy winter slowly wore away, and, when April
came, definite arrangements for orator, guests, transporta-
tion, dinner, procession and a score of other matters were
well under way. Lexington was awakening to a realization
of the undertaking in which she was engaged, and an air of
mild interest and expectation became apparent among even
our soberest citizens.

In this connection it is fitting and pleasant to recall the
invaluable services of one member of the Committee, the
late Rev. Edward G. Porter, whose busy life-work has so
recently and so suddenly ended, but whose name will long
be associated with so much that is best and highest in our

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 65

town. With characteristic zeal and energy he worked for
the Centennial, and to his wide experience, his cultured
taste and his unflagging industry were due many of the
most attractive and finished details of our anniversary
exercises. It was his request that brought, from South
Carolina, the graceful palmetto tree, to stand upon our
platform, beside the Massachusetts pine ; and to him, I
think, was due the happy suggestion of the planting of the
Centennial Elm by the hands of our honored Chief Magis-
trate. Mr. Porter early undertook a collection of old-time
relics for exhibition on Centennial Day, and the success he
met must have far outrun his most sanguine expectations.
The name of those relics was legion. Their variety was
endless. The untiring enthusiasm with which their collec-
tor sought, far and near, for souvenirs of the olden time
warmed many a heart and opened for him many a
stranger's door. Willing hands brushed the cobwebs
from old, forgotten relics of bygone days, old chests gave
up their long-neglected stores and long-closed attic doors
swung open at his approach. Such antiquarian treasures
as he gathered, for that occasion, old Lexington never saw
before and may never behold again.

I pleasantly recall the eager step with which, coming
straight from his own church door on that last busy Sunday
noon, he walked in on the chairman of the Committee of
One Hundred, and, proudly laying down a shapeless paper
parcel, triumphantly exclaimed : " I've got Sam Adams'
baptismal blanket ! " Few knew whence all these historic
treasures came. What was their after fate still fewer
could definitely tell. Tags broke away from the articles
they marked, and were scattered, in dire confusion, when
the Centennial Day was over. Hurried hands replaced
them without much regard for historic accuracy, and Sur-

66 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

geon Fiske's snow-shoes, marked " Spectacles of Col.
William Munroe," may be cited as one among the many
grotesque blunders of that hurried rearrangement. But,
out of all this chaos, order came at last. Many articles
were at once reclaimed by their careful owners, but some
souvenirs of the greatest historic interest were generously
donated to the town and became the nucleus of the valu-
able collection now found in Gary Library and in the cases
of the Historical Society. Perhaps the most interesting of
all these historic treasures were the beautiful Pitcairn pis-
tols. They were carried by Major Pitcairn, on the march
to Lexington and one of them was discharged, on Lexing-
ton Common, when he gave his famous order to fire.
Later in the day, when his riderless horse galloped into
the rebel lines, the pistols were still in the holsters and
fell into American hands. Coming, later, into the pos-
session of General Israel Putnam, he carried them through
the Revolution, and left them as a precious legacy, to
his descendants. They were exhibited in Lexington by
the childless widow of the last owner, John P. Putnam of
Cambridge, N. Y., and were immediately reclaimed when
the day was over, but not until they had attracted the
attention of General Belknap, then Secretary of War,
who at once opened negotiations for their purchase for
the Museum of the War Department at Washington.
But the story of our Centennial had fired the patriotic
heart of the venerable lady, who promptly rejected the
Secretary's offer and donated the pistols to Lexington,
proudly declaring, in a private communication to a mem-
ber of the Committee that there were some things which
money could not buy. In early autumn the pistols came
back to Lexington, and are preserved in Cary Library.
The caring for the great company expected on the

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 67

19th, the planning of the great pavilion and dinner tent,
were problems sorely taxing the committees having these
matters in charge ; but when did Lexington ever fail in
hospitality? Surely not in 1875, when she raised, on the
Common, a beautiful pavilion capable of accommodating
seven thousand people, and a dinner tent with places for
thirty-seven hundred guests. Perhaps few of our people
realize that this dinner tent ran the entire length of the
Elm Avenue front of the Common, crossed Bedford Street
and occupied a portion of the triangular green in front of
what is now Historic Hall. Some of us bewailed the
necessity of cutting down a vigorous young tree, to make
room for this monster tent, but, after the lapse of twenty-
five years, few miss it or could recall the spot whereon it
stood. These tents were works of art, in their way, very
elaborately decorated with flags, streamers and flowers,
but truth compels me to own they were cold and uncom-
fortable places. We had all heard the old story of the
waving grass and blossoming peach trees which had
greeted the English invaders, a hundred years before, and
the warm, sunny days of early April had encouraged us to
hope for similar verdure on the great anniversary day.
This hope was soon and ruthlessly dispelled. At noon of
Tuesday, April 13, just as the frame work of the dinner
tent was being raised and the floor being laid in the pavil-
ion, there burst upon us one of the most furious snow
storms of the year. The wind rose almost to a gale. The
drifting snow accumulated with incredible rapidity, and
tent and pavilion were hastily abandoned by the fleeing
workmen At midnight the storm was over, but our Com-
mon was a disheartening spectacle on Wednesday morning,
as gangs of shovelers cleared away the drifts. While the
blizzard was at its height, the driving snow had become

68 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

solidly packed under the half laid floors. To remove it was
impossible and the workmen's only course was to leave it
there, boxed in by boards and timbers, to give an added
frigidity to the wintry temperature of the tents and to
freeze the feet of the thousands who trod those floors on
Centennial Day. The eccentricities of the elements for
the days following this blizzard might well have astonished
even the hardened veterans of the weather bureau. Clouds
and sunshine, mud and ice, balmy May and howling No-
vember came, one after another, in quick succession, wind-
ing up with a sharp thunder storm on the evening of the
1 6th, following which came the biting temperature and
bitter north east wind which abated not its fury till the
Centennial was over. Small wonder that the doctors
reaped a golden aftermath !

One by one the arrangements for the great day were
nearing completion, but, in the minds of the Committee, a
misgiving at first only half acknowledged was fast growing
into a definite anxiety which would not down, however
much they might strive to ignore or forget it. When two
historic towns were celebrating the same series of events
on the same anniversary day, there needs must be some
similarity in their order of procedure. Each had its orator,
its procession and its dinner, with its long list of after din-
ner speakers. Each claimed the President of the United
States and his Cabinet as special guests of honor. To
obviate this trouble in some degree, the Lexington Com-
mittee had given a special prominence, on its programme,
to the unveiling of the statues of Samuel Adams and John
Hancock, as being a feature distinctly our own, to which
our sister town could lay no claim. For four years we
had worked and waited for these statues, to fill the vacant
niches in Memorial Hall. Subscriptions, lecture courses

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 69

and contributions of generous friends had all helped to swell
the fund, and at last the requisite amount was raised
and the statues were contracted for and were to be first
exhibited to the public on the 19th of April.

The work, respectively, of Martin Milmore and Thomas
R. Gould, they were executed, the one in Florence and the
other in Rome, and, by the terms of the contracts, were
each to have been delivered to the committee in Lexington
on the 1st of January, 1875. Unforeseen delays had pre-
vented the fulfillment of this agreement in either case. It
was not until a week after the first of January that the
Hancock statue was shipped by sailing vessel to Boston,
and it was some weeks later still, when the figure of Sam-
uel Adams was forwarded from Rome to Liverpool, whence
the Cunard Company was to bring it to our shores. News-
paper items had given the statues frequent mention and
their proposed unveiling had been announced on our notes
of invitation. Small wonder, then, that, as the weeks
passed and no statues arrived, there were anxious looks and
some ominous shakes of the head among the members of
the committee ! The steamer leaving Liverpool on the
first of April had not brought the Adams, as was positively
promised. Inquiries cabled to Liverpool revealed the fact
that, the ship being heavily laden, the statue had been left
on the Liverpool wharf to await the sailing of the Par-
thia on the following week.

The disappointment of the committee was very great,
and was fully shared by all our citizens. Boston had no
ocean greyhound in those days. By the quickest possible
run the Parthia might reach Boston on Saturday, the 17th,
but incoming steamers were making long passages and
reporting head winds and heavy seas, and the chances were
strongly against the ship's arriving on time. The vision of

70 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

the long planned Centennial with its distinctive features
missing, was looming up with unpleasant vividness before
the eyes of one and all.

But the fates were kinder than we knew. The good ship
Parthia was staunch and strong. Buffeted by wind and
wave, with great seas washing her slippery decks and a
floating iceberg making a serious break in one of her water-
tight compartments, she still held steadily on her way, and,
at two o'clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 17th,
she safely reached her dock in East Boston. It had been
an anxious day in Lexington, each passing hour seemingly
lessening the chances in our favor, when, shortly before
three o'clock, our indefatigable fellow - townsman, Mr.
George O. Davis, sent to the chairman of the Committee
the following dispatch : " Steamer Parthia, with statue of
Samuel Adams, just arrived. Send team to wharf immedi-
ately." That message sent eager feet flying in all direc-
tions. A special messenger, bearing an official order on
the Cunard Company, caught the Boston train just as it
was pulling out of the station. The express superintendent,
in Boston, in his eagerness to do his whole duty, chartered
a six-horse dray — when tivo horses would have served
equally well — and made all speed with his imposing equi-
page to the Cunard wharf. By special order of the col-
lector of the port the cargo was immediately broken open
and the statue landed with all possible dispatch ; and, shortly
before the village clock sounded the hour of midnight, the
marble presentment of our honored patriot rode majesti-
cally into Lexington, and found a resting-place on Lexing-
ton Common.

But where, meanwhile, was the companion statue } The
fears of the anxious Committee were only half allayed while
the figure of John Hancock was still missing.

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 7 1

Early in January the brig John L. Bowen, with the statue
on board, had sailed from Leghorn direct for Boston. On
the 28th of March she had been spoken off Bermuda, and
then she disappeared from mortal ken as completely as
though the seas had swallowed her. By the most hberal
calculation she should have reached her port by the gth of
April, and might easily have arrived at an earlier date ; but,
as day after day passed and failed to bring the missing ship,
all hearts grew heavy with suspense and apprehension. At
last, on the morning of the 15th, a report reached us that,
under stress of weather and in a somewhat disabled condi-
tion, the Bowen had sought shelter in the harbor of Vine-
yard Haven. In this emergency again we found a friend
and active helper in the collector of the port, who immedi-
ately dispatched to Vineyard Haven the revenue cutter
Gallatin, with orders to find the Bowen and tow her to
Boston with all possible speed. On the morning of Friday,
the 1 6th, the Gallatin returned, her captain reporting in
person to the collector that he had been to Vineyard
Haven and the Bowen was not there. " Go back and find
her," was the collector's quick and decisive reply, and back
the little cutter went on her blind and seemingly hopeless
search. So much we knew, but, as no farther news had
come to the Committee, the last gleam of hope had well-
nigh faded when, late on Saturday evening, while all eyes
were eagerly watching for the coming of the Adams, the
following dispatch from a custom-house official told an un-
expected and welcome story : " Cutter Gallatin, with brig
Bowen in tow, just passing Cape Cod. Will be up at mid-
night. My congratulations to Committee."

I know not by what magic that brig was unloaded and
the statue disembarked. I only know that, early on Sun-
day afternoon, just as the figure of Adams was being

^2 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

hoisted into its place on the platform of the pavilion, a
second dray, drawn by two stalwart horses, came toiling
up our village street, and a second big box was unloaded
on our Common. Eager hands made quick work. The
great box was hastily opened, the flannel-swathed figure
was released from its wrappings, and, before we had fairly
comprehended our extraordinary good fortune, our long sus-
pense was ended, and John Hancock and Samuel Adams,
in enduring marble, stood together on Lexington Green.

There was varied work done on that busy April Sunday,
a day hardly less memorable, in its way, than the anniver-
sary day which followed it. The morning had dawned on a
strange and unwonted spectacle. The mammoth tents, to
which the busy workmen were putting the last finishing
touches, the mounds of debris which the laborers were
carting away, the big baggage wagons, from which the
caterer's assistants were unloading their endless supplies,
and the crowds of curious lookers-on, transformed our quiet
Common into a scene not easily described nor readily for-
gotten. There were special services in all the churches
that morning, with a large and enthusiastic attendance ; but
the ring of axe and hammer mingled with the sound of the
church-going bell, and the babel of many voices outside
the church well-nigh drowned the strains of "America"
from the choir within.

Everywhere the busy decorators were at work. Perhaps
it were more truthful to say they were everywhere except
where they should have been ; but our judgment of those
unhappy men may well be tempered with mercy. For two
days they had worked untiringly, and Sunday morning still
found their work sadly in arrears. With a hundred impa-
tient people all clamoring at once, each one pressing his
own individual claim to immediate attention, what wonder

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 73

Colonel Beals' assistants became confused and did some
queer and startling things ! When the decorations were
confined to flags and bunting, and were arranged under
the supervision of the Decoration Committee, they were
always pleasing and often very beautiful. The uncurbed
fancy of the professional decorator did not always produce
the same satisfactory results. I recall one modest dwell-
ing, then only twenty-five years old, which the workmen
had conspicuously labeled " Birthplace of American Lib-
erty," and surmounted this remarkable legend with a hfe-
sized, full-length portrait of George Washington ! " Only
that and nothing more." When the aggrieved owner ven-
tured a meek remonstrance against such a very unsuitable
design, the astonished decorator, with an impressive stare,
replied : " I tJwiigJit I was making this house A /."

But the busiest day must end at last, and, while still the
workman sawed and hammered, while the anxious C(mimit-
tee still hurried to and fro, while the long procession of car-
riages and foot passengers still moved slowly up and down
our streets, night came, dreary, cold and overcast, with
a howling northeast wind and a threatening outlook for the
morrow. The evening religious service, in the town hall,
with its distinguished speakers and its elaborate musical
programme, could but partially offset the extremely unsab-
bath-like character of that memorable Sunday.

It is not my purpose to attempt any history of the Cen-
tennial Day itself. We all remember it, and the personal
experiences of the participants have been many times re-
counted, and have lost nothing in the repetition In its
important features the day was a complete and memorable
success. To us who remember the details, and know how
the elements and the unprecedented crowds combined to
overturn all the calculations of our careful Committee, the

74 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

grotesque incidents which marked the Centennial must ever
be a source of mingled amusement and regret. No mouse
ever saw his well-laid plans going more hopelessly agley !
The crowded trains that wouldn't move, the impatient
guests who couldn't arrive, the officials who clung desper-
ately to the lowest steps of overfilled omnibuses instead of
reclining in luxurious carriages prepared for their occupancy,
the great procession which " dragged its slow length along"
through the surging crowds which blocked every foot of its
way, the hungry mobs that raided private larders and in-
vaded the most sacred precincts of our homes, and the
bleak, cold wind which howled round great and small alike,
— these are some of the memories of that long-planned, long-
talked-of Centennial Day.

I will not weary you with the particulars, but I cannot for-
bear a passing mention of those who were our guests that
day. Of the many committees which had toiled through
that long winter of preparation, perhaps the Invitation Com-
mittee had been deepest in work and worry, for on those
three individuals fell the duty of gathering, from far and
near, the distinguished men who should do honor to the
day. How thorough was their work and how widely those
notes of invitation flew over the length and breadth of the
land, the great array of guests who thronged our pavilion
bore ample testimony. I think our citizens have never fully
realized the distinguished company which gathered here
that day. We all remember the invading host which, ?/«-
invited, took possession of our town ; but to the real guests
of honor some of us have given little thought. Governors,
congressmen, judges and professional men were "thick as
autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallombrosa ; "
but there were other guests that day whose noble words
and golden deeds will live when official rank is long forgot-

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 75

ten. On that flag-draped platform were men eminent in
science, in letters and in philanthropy. There were men
whose halting step or empty sleeve told of patriotic blood
freely shed in their country's cause ; and not unmeet it
seemed that with the war-worn soldier there should come
the venerable author of "America" and the noble woman
to whose inspired pen we owe " The Battle Hymn of the
Republic." President Grant and his Cabinet came late.
How that distinguished soldier effected his retreat from
Concord that day, by what military manoeuvre he made his
forced march on Lexington, has never, I think, been satis-
factorily explained. Some said he came in an omnibus.
There were rumors of other vehicles, more or less stately
in character, which were successively pressed into his ser-
vice. He certainly was not in the railway train which stood
stalled for hours on the wind-swept meadows near North
Lexington, and in which certain members of the Reception
Committee spent a good portion of their day. In some
way unknown to history, by back roads or cross roads,
avoiding the surging crowds which blocked the historic
highway between Lexington and Concord, late but un-
daunted, the President and his Cabinet appeared at last,
and occupied an honored place in our procession, our din-
ner tent and at our evening reception. Secretary Robeson
was, unfortunately, lost in transit and, reaching Lex-
ington somewhat later than his chief, experienced some
difficulty in proving his identity to the suspicious policemen
on duty at the tents. In vain he assured them that the
head of the Navy Department stood before them. A blue-
coated guardian of the peace sniffed contemptuously as he
made reply : " That won't do ! We have had too many
secretaries round here to-day already." Very pleasant to
the eye of the perturbed Cabinet minister was the passing

76 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

member of the Reception Committee who rescued him
from his undignified dilemma.

It was too cold and inclement a day for the social ameni-
ties to be very rigorously observed, either by policemen or
by guests, and some amusing breaches of decorum were the
direct result. There remains photographed on my memory
the picture of a white-haired doctor of divinity surrepti-
tiously and unlawfully holding up the flap of the dinner
tent while a grave and dignified professor of the Harvard
Law School did gracefully crawl under.

But, with the many distinguished men whom we gladly
welcomed to our midst that day, there came one little
woman from New Jersey, whose antecedents gave her a
claim upon our hospitality, and whose personal character-
istics seem worthy of remembrance. Few of our people
even heard her name. Still fewer met her face to face. It
was my privilege, through letters and through repeated in-
terviews, to know her, for a short period, somewhat famil-
iarly, and perhaps I cannot better close these rambling
memories than by briefly sketching the quaint little body
who was for four days our guest.

Early in the year a citizen of a neighboring town had
called the attention of the Committee to Miss Sarah Smith
Stafford of Trenton, New Jersey, who, as a descendant of
famous Revolutionary ancestors and as possessor of numer-
ous Revolutionary relics, seemed entitled to recognition from
Lexington. A somewhat voluminous correspondence with
Miss Stafford brought out some interesting facts regarding
herself, her ancestors and her possessions, — facts which I
briefly give as nearly as possible in the order in which she
gave them to me.

Fully to understand Miss Stafford's antecedents, it is
necessary to go back to the first days of September, 1779,

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 77

when the American armed ship Kitty, commanded by Capt.
Philip Stafford, was seized by a British Man-of-War and all
on board were put in irons. On the 13th of September
Commodore Paul Jones, commanding the American ship
Bon Homme Richard, captured the Man-of-War and her
prize, liberated the prisoners and ironed their EngHsh
captors. Serving on the Kitty was Captain Stafford's
young nephew, James Bayard Stafford, a young man who
by education and training was somewhat superior to his
brother sailors ; and when the entire crew volunteered to
serve on the ship which had rescued them, young Stafford
was given a lieutenant's command. Thus it came to pass
that he served as a volunteer officer under Paul Jones in
the engagement between the Bon Homme Richard and
the Serapis, on the 23d of September, 1779. When the
Richard went into action there floated from her masthead
a little flag, less than four yards in length, for which was
claimed the proud distinction of being the first flag bearing
the stars and stripes ever carried by an American warship
and the first ever saluted by a foreign naval power.

When the battle was at its height this flag was shot
away and must have been lost past recovery but for the
prompt action of the young volunteer. Lieutenant Stafford,
who at the risk of his life sprang over the ship's side, res-
cued the flag and brought it safely back on board. While
replacing it at the masthead he received a severe and pain-
ful wound from which he never ceased to suffer. When
the ship went down, almost in the hour of victory, Paul
Jones transferred the precious flag to the American ship
Alliance, where it remained till the close of the Revolution,
when it came into the possession of the Marine Committee.
Rallying from his serious wounds. Lieutenant Stafford
served through the war, doing valiant service wherever

78 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

duty called him, and after the return of peace the Marine
Committee, which was, I suppose, the modest forerunner of
our Navy Department, presented to the brave officer the
flag he had rescued, then and now known as the flag of
Paul Jones. After the close of the war, Lieutenant Stafford
married a brave Massachusetts woman, two of whose rela-
tives had fallen on the 19th of April, at Menotomy, and her
father later at White Plains. Of the little family reared
in their New Jersey home, Sarah Smith Stafford was the
only daughter and, perhaps, the youngest child. With this
double inheritance of Revolutionary blood and reared in an
atmosphere of Revolutionary tradition, patriotism became
a religion in the mind of the little girl. Idolizing her in-
valid father, she loved with almost equal devotion the
country for which his blood was shed, and the " flag of
Paul Jones," the visible emblem of that country's glory and
that father's valor, became a sacred possession in her
childish eyes. When, at last, the father and mother van-
ished from the little home, perhaps it is not strange that
the lonely daughter grew into a woman of one idea, develop-
ing some attendant eccentricities. Her home, for many
years, was on the battlefield of Trenton. One who visited
her there says it was a museum of Revolutionary relics.
The outbreak of our Civil War found Miss Stafford one of
the most zealous workers in the Union cause. Her little
fortune of ^12,000 she immediately loaned without security
to the State of New Jersey, to aid in equipping the first
New Jersey Volunteers, simply replying to the remon-
strances of cautious friends, " What is money, if you have
no country.? "

In 1849 her widowed mother had made application to
Congress for renumeration for her husband's services on
the Bon Homme Richard, but there were legal technicalities

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 79

in the way, and for many years the matter was allowed to
drop. In 1872 the daughter renewed the application. Be-
fore it had been acted upon by Congress, the news reached
Washington one morning of the robbing of the Trenton
Bank and the total loss of all Miss Stafford's property de-
posited therein. The New Jersey senators lost no time in
bringing the matter forward. In the Congressional Record
of that year I find a full report of the glowing tributes to
the services of Lieutenant Stafford, and of the promptness
with which, then and there, ninety-three years after those
services were rendered. Congress, without a dissenting
voice, voted $8,000 back pay to the brave Lieutenant's
daughter.

And this was the little woman who was Lexington's
guest on Centennial Day, and the flag she brought, the
flag of Paul Jones, was the historic piece of bunting which
held the place of honor among our platform decorations,
between the palmetto and the pine, and which has been
recently presented to President McKinley for deposit in
tho National Museum. In consideration of her age and
presumable infirmities, the invitation extended to Miss
Stafford had been a very generous one, and she came to us
on Friday, April 16, and left on the afternoon of Tuesday,
the 20th.

Perhaps the prospect of a four days' visit with a voluble
old lady seemed a little overwhelming to the gentlemen of
the Invitation Committee. Certain it is that the services
of the Committee's feminine attache were again put in requi-
sition, and to her watchful care the visitor was committed.
We looked for a fragile, delicate, infirm old lady, but there
came to us a rotund, erect little body, with white hair and
wrinkled visage, it is true, but with an unconquerable
sprightliness of manner and a step as springing as a girl's.

80 LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

Entire indifference to fashion's mandate was written on
every detail of her quaint costume. She was laboriously
handling a monstrous bag of divers hues when I met her
at the station. Its proportions and its weight were almost
too much for her slender strength, but the flag, the precious
flag, was hidden within its vast recesses and no persuasions
could induce her to trust it to my care. The other relics
she was to exhibit here had come to us by express, but to
no vandal hand would she intrust the most treasured pos-
session of them all, and she climbed into the waiting carriage
still clutching with unyielding grip the receptacle which
contained her priceless flag.

During the days which followed, our interviews were
many and sometimes extended, and I am not sure the Com-
mittee were not wise in entertaining her by proxy. Her
interest in the approaching celebration never flagged, but
the courage with which she faced the discomforts of that
trying day was something we were quite unable to foresee.
Remembering that Centennial morning, with its wintry
temperature and its biting wind, our surprise may be im-
agined when Miss Stafford presented herself, waiting to be
escorted to her place in the pavilion. She wore a black
silk gown of good material but ancient cut, a white shawl
of medium weight, and on her silver locks there rested
simply a white muslin cap with flying streamers. Her
wrinkled face was blue with cold, which all the fires of
patriotism could not wholly overcome, but her eye was as
bright and her manner as vivacious as ever. In vain we
protested against such an unsuitable attire on such a freez-
ing day. 'Twas throwing words away. She assured us that
the shawl was the proper thing to wear and the cap was
her Centennial Cap, and wear them she would in spite of
wind and weather ; and wear them she did through all that
bitter day.

LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL. 8l

The crowds were already upon our streets, but through
the mass of patriotic humanity this resolute little body, with
flying cap strings and fluttering shawl, was escorted to her
assigned place in the pavilion. Late in the afternoon, when
cold and fatigue had driven the guests by hundreds from
the dinner tent, and when the brave men who remained
were turning their ulster collars up around their ears, I saw
the plucky woman with her white shawl drawn up over her
head and pinned securely under her quivering chin, thus
adding very materially to the general picturesqueness of
her appearance, but very little, I fear, to her bodily comfort.
So much, and no more, this valiant Daughter of the Revo-
lution yielded to the weather !

Late in the afternoon of Tuesday, April 20, we saw
Miss Stafford off on her homeward way, and after that we
saw her face no more. One or two enthusiastic letters
came back to us from her New Jersey home. Occasionally
the newspapers recorded her presence at some patriotic
gathering. She took her beloved flag to the opening of the
Philadelphia Centennial, and was an honored guest during
her stay. But the infirmities of age were coming fast, how-
ever resolutely she might resist their approach. It was not
long before we read, one morning, that the end had come.
Worn out at last, the tired body was laid to rest beside its
kindred dust, and at her own request she was carried to her
grave with the flag of Paul Jones draped upon her casket.

May we all be as loyal as she to the country that flag
represents !

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE THIRD MEETING-
HOUSE IN LEXINGTON, ERECTED 1794.
By Francis Brown. Read October 8, 1901.

In these recollections of the Lexington Meeting-house, I
shall omit the oldest structures and confine myself to the
one erected in 1794, which was my only place of public wor-
ship in the town.

It was a large two-story wooden building, located a few
feet north of the historical-memorial block or pulpit recently
stationed on the southerly angle of the Common. It was a
building of very modest style and form, and its dimensions
were, I think, about eighty by fifty feet. It had a porch at
the front about twenty-five by twenty feet, opening to the
main building, with a facade over the door, on which was
painted in black figures " 1794."

Although not standing on any marked elevation, the
house was found, by an engineer, to occupy a level ninety
feet above the foundation of the church at Concord. In-
credible as this may appear, it is doubtless true, as not less
than five streams originating in Lexington are found running
out of the town in different directions, — into the Concord,
Mystic and Merrimac rivers, — showing plainly, by its eleva-
tion, affecting air and drainage, why Lexington is remark-
ably healthful and pleasant.

Let us now look at the interior of the Meeting-House.
The lower floor was nearly covered with square pews, one
range extending by the windows entirely round from one
side of the pulpit to the other, and called the wall-pews,
with an aisle just within the circuit. One third of the

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 83

central area was used for slips for the aged, partially deaf,
etc., the different sexes occupying separately the right and
left side, and the other two-thirds of the center were occu-
pied for pews.

A range of gallery extended along the front as well as
both the ends, with a line of square pews by the windows.
The front portion of the front gallery was occupied by the
singers, while the end galleries were set apart for the
second grade of adults of both sexes, a few disorderly boys
with a tything-man or two to preserve order, and in one
corner a few relics of law-regulated slavery, under the names
of Caesar Mason, Betsy Tulip, Charity Bridge and Dinah
Lawrence.

And here a few words respecting the pulpit, which was
in those days considered a place of so much sacredness that
few save the authorized ones had courage to enter it. It
was made of pine and painted white, with access given to
it by a flight of six or seven steps on each side, a large win-
dow in its rear, a red or maroon colored Bible cushion, a
black Bible and a black hymn book of the Tate and Brady
collection I think.

Overhead hung, suspended by an iron rod, a "sounding-
board," circular in form, coming down to within twelve or
eighteen inches of the minister's head ; and this, I well re-
member, frequently disturbed my juvenile apprehension, lest
it might fall upon and crush the poor preacher below.
Here let me note that I once saw a dove come in at an
open window and light upon the sounding-board and there
sit for a while, bobbing his head and peeping over the edge
of the board on the heads of his fellow-worshipers below,
very much amusing the juveniles and puzzling the pastor
to know what the matter could be.

In this connection let us say a word about the preaching.

84 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE,

As there was but one church in the town, we had but one
prcvaiHng sentiment to cherish, one ckister of dogmas to
examine and one conclusion, set forth, to arrive at ; so we
had little to excite discussion, and we patiently took what
was given us and waited, wished and wondered, according to
our peculiar circumstances. One thing I ought to acknow-
ledge, however ; we had very long discourses, often requir-
ing a full hour in their delivery, and sometimes an hour and
a half ; two of them surely on each Sunday, so that if any
fell short in quality it was made up and presented in quan-
tity.

In connection with this, let us call up the subject of
music. As often as once in two or three years the town
would vote a sum of money sufficient to secure a teacher
of singing, and although the cost was incurred for the
benefit of the parish, it was by law made a town charge.
Seasonable notice would be given of the opening of the
school and all were invited to attend. Fifty, or perhaps one
hundred, would appear, candle in hand, as required. Sound-
ing of individual voices and trials to discover individual
taste and talent, by the teacher, would occupy two or three
of the earliest sessions of the school, and the result of the
inquiries would generally be that about half the number of
attendants would be kindly advised not to incur the ex-
pense of a tune-book. The balance, however, was always
found sufficient to fill the singers' seats in the church and
with instrumental aid such as was afforded by the bass-viol,
French horn, bassoon, violin, clarinet and flute, with the
help of a tuning-fork, after about six or eight weeks of
training, the choir was qualified and willing to meet the
public expectations.

As regards the heating of the premises, there was no
furnace, stove, steam or anything else to soften the arctic

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 85

temperature of the house during the wintry season except-
ing a few foot-stoves brought by ladies who came in their
sleighs from distant homes. To all other persons the state
of the atmosphere was anything but agreeable or tolerable
during a two-hours' sitting. But time works wonders, it is
truly said, and finally one appeared here in the form of a
large wood-stove, placed near the head of the broad aisle,
directly in front of the pulpit, the smoke-pipe rising ten or
twelve feet and branching off to each end of the building,
out underneath the galleries. This inaugurated the warm-
ing process for church comfort. May science and art con-
tinue to invent and improve plans for securing its more
perfect accomplishment !

The old church had three outside entrances. That one
looking down the main street led through the porch di-
rectly into the church and by a side stairway to the gallery.
The west end also opened a way into the church below and
through a double stairway into the gallery. The east end
had a projection, including a belfry, sixty or seventy feet
high, which sustained a steeple of about as much added
height. On the steeple's pinnacle, a weather-vane, of the
semblance of a rooster, swung for many years, doing its
duty faithfully, until, on an exceedingly cold, dark and tem-
pestuous evening, a flock of wild geese, almost exhausted,
on their way homeward, making a great noise, settled down
too low for safety, till one of their number came in contact
with the rooster's tail and bent it around to a right angle ;
but the contact proved fatal to the goose, it being found
dead in the morning at the base of the belfry. A way was
opened through this porch into the church, again by a
double staircase to the gallery, and thence by a single flight
of steps to the belfry or bell-deck, where the thoughtless
boy would sometimes stray on a " Sunday noon," and, ig-

86 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.

norant or forgetful of the "first afternoon ringing," would
find himself surprised and astounded with the noise when
too late to retreat.

I remember being told by my father, who was generally
correct on such matters, that, when the four corner-posts
of this belfry were raised, the machinery was so arranged
that to each separate post, at the end which went upper-
most, a man with a strip of board, a hammer and some
nails was lashed, and when the posts were raised to a per-
pendicular position each man cooperated with his neighbor
on his right and left hand, by nailing together the ends of
the several posts, thus completing the object of their daring
exploit. Three of these men, by the means prepared for
their descent, were lowered down, when the fourth one, a
sailor, still aloft, rose and walked around from post to post,
on the edge of the strips of board, and then descended,
applauded by many for his success and denounced for his
foolhardiness by the wiser ones standing awe-struck below.
The bell of the church was very high-keyed and its tone
was easily distinguished from the neighboring town bells
when rung for fires. It had, however, one substantial
quality. When the next bell was contracted for, the
founder preferred, rather than to lower the old bell by der-
rick, to plunge it from the bell-deck and take his chances
of breaking it. It fell and struck the hard road without a
crack or scar.

Our old church had neither blinds, shades, shutters nor
curtains, no carpets, seat-cushions, organ or library, no
chapel, Sunday-school room or horse-shed, no pictures or
sacred relics save the old red morocco-covered Bible in the
pulpit, bearing upon its fly-leaf the gift-token to the parish
in the familiar handwriting of Governor John Hancock.

Thus, without ornament, convenience or comfort, we loved

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 87

and honored the old meeting-house and approached it nearly
every Sabbath day, riding and even walking one, two or
three miles to do it and we left it feeling that it was good
for us that we had met the demand and that we had gained
something to aid us in the formation of religious character.

We had no special religious instruction suited to the
growth or culture of the young mind, excepting, if it could
be so considered, when the minister came into the secular
schoolroom, two or three times during the school season,
on a Saturday afternonoon and "catechised" us from the
famous New England Primer. The only thing pleasant or
profitable to me in this connection, which I now remember,
is the fact that Mr. Williams, on one of his visits, gave me a
" fourpence halfpenny piece " for proficiency in the cate-
chism exercise when a pupil of four or five years.

There is another subject, in this connection, which must
not be passed without due notice. I refer to the clergymen
who filled our pulpit and honored their profession at the
time we are considering, viz., Mr. Clarke, Mr. Williams and
Mr. Briggs. Although I do not press the claim of friendly
relationship to the first named, yet, as he was the only re-
ligious guide and teacher of the town, and as my birthday
occurred about three years before his decease, I conclude
that he made many calls at the home of my parents, and
that I was as often awed into silence by the wonderful
presence ; and I can now almost feel his gentle hand patting
my head and hear his kind word, full of religious instruction
on filial, fraternal and religious duties. So I can claim him,
as he was, as my first pastor ; and, since he was both im-
mediately before and after his death so much a theme of
conversation with my parents and their neighbors, it is no
wonder that his impress of character was deeply fixed in
my memory.

88 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.

He was a good pastor and he was a statesman worthy of
all praise, honor and imitation. In our terrible Revolu-
tionary struggle he was among the earliest, purest and
most fearless advocates of freedom. In thought, word and
deed he "nobly dared to be free." Has his memory been
justly appreciated and honored, and has his name filled the
place deserved by it on the roll of fame } Many times I
have thought it was not so. Historians should look to this.

He was a good citizen, leader, counselor and friend.
Whenever his influence prevailed, there was no need of
police court or police officers. If Smith and Jones came to
any war of words more or less angry, upon agreement to
refer the matter to Parson Clarke the scene at once bright-
ened and the storm-cloud was sure to be dispelled. The
contestants came and related and argued, and the decision
was quick and final. "Jones, your bull is a burly and dan-
gerous animal and should be shut up in barn or barnyard ;
and, Smith, if your fences had been kept in better order,
your ox would not have been gored. Go, both of you, and
do your duty, and shake hands as friends," and this was
sure to be done.

In his domestic relations he was exemplary ; a little stern,
perhaps some would say, but a tree should be judged by its
fruits, and as he sent out into the world's active and worthy
service six sons and six daughters, no one would fail to
acknowledge the genuineness of his family government in
securing filial love and obedience. I recollect hearing the
following specimen of his training.

Young folks of that day, as now, were apt to be sleepy in
the morning, and prone to ignore the early call to arise.
This could not be allowed by the parson, and he would,
as he had occasion, go to the foot of the stairway and,
aloud, give the peculiar word of command, viz. : —

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 89

" Polly, Betsey, Lydia,
Lucy, Patty, Sally,
Thomas, Jonas, William,
Peter, Bowen, Harry,
GET UP!"

and it was added that, before the roll-call was concluded,
every foot had reached the floor, and every ear was saluted
with the military words, " Right ! Dress ! "

There stands out, on my memorial tablet, Avery Williams,
a man of less than middle age, slender of figure and of
rather gloomy aspect, seemingly full of thought, — uncon-
genial thought, — and, withal, reluctant to entertain cheer-
fulness or smiles in his musings or conversation. He was
not of the practical turn of his predecessor, either in mind
or manner, and was very unlike him. A scholar, perhaps,
but not well acquainted with human nature, and not fitted
to fill the vacancy that had existed in the parish. He was
blind to the needs of his people, and then unyielding to the
circumstances by which he was attended. He was a decided
follower of John Calvin, and allowed no other doctrines than
those he entertained to be true. He was also, in politics,
a strong and ardent Federalist, and as the War of 1812 was
taking form and direction, and as opinions were ripening
into the most violent manifestations at this time, the town
being decidedly Republican in politics, and, withal, liberal
in its religious tone and character, conversation scon re-
sulted in struggle, and unwise words uttered in the pulpit,
and misunderstood and misjudged in the pews, brought
about a condition of things tending to create bad feeling
between pastor and people. An instance of outbreak may
be cited as in point.

It was customary on Thanksgiving Day to have some

90 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.

special piece of music sung by the choir at the close of
divine service. On this special occasion the singers had
made choice of the " Ode on Science," which contains
some sentences decidedly offensive to the Federal or Brit-
ish politician. The clouds of strife were at once seen ris-
ing and threatening a storm. The hint was immediately
afloat that the minister would neither read the ode nor give
opportunity for its use. The chorister had seasonable notice
of what would probably occur, and marshalled his forces to
meet the worst. So, after the short prayer, at once an
attempt was made to pronounce the benediction, but in an
instant the gallery was alive with tumultuous song. Every
voice and every instrument was urged to give its variety
and tone to the combination, and it seemed as if the roof
would be raised by the effort. I heard the leader declare,
aloud, as soon as he came outside the church door, that " if
the minister would not read it, he should hear it with a ven-
geance." Soon after this the ministry of Mr. Williams was
ended. Doubtless wrong existed on both sides. It gener-
ally does in such cases.

I was personally present when Mr. Williams christened
the oldest five of the children of my parents, a fact I re-
spectfully desire to remember.

We come, next, to the ministry of the Rev. Charles
Briggs. He was, I think, a graduate of the Harvard
Divinity School.

About four years after Mr. Williams left the parish, and
after quite a number of candidates of different denomina-
tions had been listened to, the church and congregation
came, quite unanimously, to the choice of Mr. Briggs in
the year 1819. He was comparatively young, and fresh
from the schools, but he ripened rapidly into favor with
his people. He was a genial, wise and kind man, an accept-

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 9 1

able teacher, exemplar and friend. I knew him well. I
loved him much. I remember many of his terse and valu-
able sentences, both in the pulpit and in private intercourse,
containing thoughts always bearing with good and enduring
effect upon the life and character of those who heard him,
and especially upon the young listener. He was quite
popular when I left the town.

In connection with the church organization, I must next
introduce the deacons of the parish ; for, in those early
times, the office was one of much dignity and importance,
and we young folks were taught to regard the deacons as
worthy of all honor and respect. My earliest recollections
bring up but two, James Brown and Isaac Hastings, own-
ers of pews at the extreme northeast and northwest angles
of the lower floor of the house. But, personally and offi-
cially, they filled other and more distinguished seats, at the
foot of the pulpit stairs, their chairs standing at each end
of the communion table and facing the audience. Why
they were so stationed I, as a little fellow, was much puz-
zled to know ; whether because they were good-looking men,
whether because they were exemplary men, or whether to
regulate the conduct of such as could not appreciate the
service ; and I, as yet, remain unenlightened. It was once
their duty to "line the hymns " to be intoned by the choir,
and I believe I have witnessed the exercise in our church,
but cannot feel quite sure of it, as the practice was discon-
tinued about the time alluded to.

I cannot refrain from noticing briefly a few of the preva-
lent customs of the date and locality we are describing.

Then, as now, young folks were in the habit of forming
matrimonial engagements. Then, as now, legal notice of
marriage intentions must be publicly given, and, instead of
procuring a certificate of such notice, as now practiced, the

92 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.

town clerk, as directed, would rise in his pew, immediately
after the benediction, at the close of the afternoon service,
and, with stentorian voice, would declare that " marriage is
intended between A. B. of Lexington and C. D. of Con-
cord, or E. F. and G. H., both of Lexington." This had
to be repeated two succeeding Sabbaths to meet the de-
mands of the law. Once, I remember well, it proved quite
an amusing occurrence to us. The town clerk, finding him-
self a very much interested party to the notice, nothing
daunted, rose and manfully showed himself equal to the
occasion, as, with full voice, he published his own bann s
to our entire satisfaction. Another mode of making public
these intentions was to nail upon the church door a public
declaration of the facts in the case.

Another prevailing custom of the time was that, if a death
occurred in any family of the parish, " a note was put up "
(as it was expressed) by the nearest of kin, asking that the
Disposer of events would convert the bereavement into a
blessing of " spiritual and everlasting good" to the mourn-
ing relatives.

If a member of the family was about to start on a long
journey, — to Hartford ox Neiv York, — it was customary for
friends to ask, in this public manner, for the protecting
care of the Good Spirit, for its wise guidance and for the
speedy return of the wanderer to his home and family.
Again, when a family of the parish was blest by the birth
of a child, it was deemed a joy and a duty to ask for the
sympathy of friends, to join in a prayer of thankfulness to
God for "mercies received." Scarcely a Sabbath passed
that some one or more of such papers were not read before
the prayer, and often became a dominant feature of the in-
vocation. Newspapers, then, were very scarce, and news
of a local character moved slowly and doubtfully, and the

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE. 93

intelligence these offerings gave was prized and borne away
to the several homes with the satisfaction of having news
from headquarters.

I distinctly recollect the old horse-block, located about
twenty feet from the southeast corner of the building. It
was made of hewn granite blocks, laid about four feet by
four and three feet high, with three steps leading to the
top. At that time there were very few carriages, excepting
wagons, in use in the town, and many single and double
horseloads of church-goers were seen, on Sundays, ap-
proaching the house of worship with a man astride in
front, and, behind him, on a pillion, his wife, and some-
times, in her lap, a babe. The horse was guided up to the
side of the block, and the animal unburthened by the party
or their friends.

I trust I may be allowed to add a short anecdote here in
connection with this old block. My father many times told
me that, when a lad, one Sunday noontime he happened to
be sitting on the block, and overheard two antiquated dames
discussing the profound subjects of life, death and the judg-
ment day. They looked painfully puzzled, anxious and dis-
satisfied with the teachings of the pulpit and the evidences
of the Scriptures, till, finally, they became partially ex-
hausted and quieted.

The silence was at last broken by the following query
and answer :

" Aunt Patty, what do you really believe on this dread-
ful subject } "

The answer at last came in long-drawn and subdued sen-
tences and sighs :

** Sister, I dont know what to say. Sometimes I think,
and then — again — / don't knoiv.''

The lad was amused and told it to his generation. I pass
it along to mine.

94 THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.

A few words now about the trees. Immediately about
the church there was but Httle foliage. Two or three trees
of a leafless look had grown up at the rear of the building,
nearly behind the pulpit. Beside these there was but a
single one that ornamented the immediate surroundings.
This tree was a stately elm which stood at the southeast
corner of the building, midway between the belfry and
horse-block. Neither of the trees, however, was so situ-
ated as to afford shade or shelter over man or animal. A
range of posts, about twenty feet from the front of the
house, was set, beginning at the front porch and extending,
in each direction, to the corners, right and left. These
posts were connected at the top by a rail to which the
horses were tied, and where they stood, uncovered, without
shed, shade or blanket to protect them from the sun, storm
or flies during the services in church.

In the old Merriam House (Buckman Tavern) now stand-
ing is said to have been located the first post-office of the
town. I remember having gone there for letters when the
business of the office was transacted in a small building,
now standing, at the northeast corner of the house.

The Town Library, consisting of from one hundred to
two hundred volumes, during the period of which I am
writing, was kept, successively, at the houses of Rufus
Merriam, Nathan Munroe and Joshua Russell. The col-
lection, I think, was composed chiefly of books of History
and Travels, a few Biographies and Moral Essays, together
with a scanty supply of Poetry, with here and there a vol-
ume on Art, Science and Natural History.

THE EPITAPHS IN THE BURYING-GROUNDS

AT LEXINGTON, MASS.

Read by Francis H. Brown, M.D., October 14, 1902.

During the summer months of 1901-02 it was my privi-
lege to pass a certain time in the Town of Lexington, where
many of my ancestors were born, and have hved and died.

I was led to carry out a plan which had for some time
been in my mind, to study the records of the early and the
later town-folk, in that form which may be said to be con-
temporaneous with them, and so substantially correct. A
gravestone tells the truth ! Yes, presumably so, so far
as dates are concerned ; and, to that extent, it is a valu-
able aid in the study of the history and the biography of
the people of the town. In that view I trust I may have
done a service by copying some 716 epitaphs. With all the
quaintness of diction, the peculiarities of spelling, of punc-
tuation and of type, they are accurate transcripts from the
stones, and may be considered as correct biographical records
as those of the family Bibles of the inhabitants of this com-
munity.

Hidden behind the records which we gather from the
headstones, how much of family history lies concealed ! —
of strenuous life ; of struggles of the husbandmen in the
meadows and fields ; of the going back and forth, in the
roads and byways of the town ; of the holding of offices of
honor and trust as selectmen, assessors and treasurers,
enjoying the confidence of fellow - townsmen ; of proving
themselves good, honest, trustworthy New England people.
The circumstances of these lives are a precious inheritance
to those who can claim them as those of ancestors.

96 EPITAPHS IN BURVING-G ROUNDS.

A copy of these epitaphs accompanies this paper, and will
be deposited, with it, in the archives of the Lexington His-
torical Society. Moreover, I have made, in connection with
the epitaphs, footnotes giving the line of ancestry and many
biographical memoranda concerning a considerable number
of the decedents. Still farther, I am able to exhibit litho-
graphic copies of plans of the old burying-ground and the
Robbins Cemetery, in which the gravestones, as to-day
situated, are carefully marked and numbered. The tran-
script of the epitaph gives, with each one, a number which
will serve to indicate the locality of each grave. The plans
referred to have been made with much care and great labor
by Mr. Eli M. Robbins, a native of the town and now a
resident. For permission to use them and for valuable
assistance in preparing this paper I am indebted to him.

Another copy of this paper and of the accompanying
epitaphs will be placed in the Library of the New England
Historic-Genealogical Society in Boston.

I think I may be pardoned if I express the regret that
many of the dates on the gravestones do not entirely con-
form with the printed records in the History of the town ;
that the gravestones, many of them, have been removed
from the actual places of burial, and that the presumption
is strong that many stones, which would give us valuable
information concerning early inhabitants, are buried beneath
the sod, or have furnished useful — but unsentimental — ad-
juvants to stone walls, the foundations of buildings or the
covering of drains. You will excuse the plain language. I
speak as a historian and one dealing with facts. I trust that
some of the missing stones may be recovered in due time.

It is very reasonable to suppose, and indeed Mr. Robbins
bears me out in the suggestion, that all parts of the old
burying-ground now wanting stones are thickly populated

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. 97

with the remains of those whose stones are set up in serried
lines or have been destroyed or buried.

Within a few years Mr. Henry A. May of Roxbury,
a professional genealogist, suggested to his kinsman, Mr.
John James May of Dorchester, a member of the New
England Historic -Genealogical Society, the necessity of
"taking off the epitaphs" in the various burying-grounds
throughout the State, in order that records, supposed to be
of unfailing accuracy, on stones, slowly but surely yielding
to the ravages of time, might be preserved for the benefit
of future genealogists and historians. The suggestion was
at once accepted by Mr. J.J. May, and he was appointed by
the Society the chairman of a committee to carry out the
plan.

The plan of Mr. H. A. May was that a central and organ-
ized body, like the Historic Genealogical Society, should
enlist the interest of the inhabitants in every town in the
Commonwealth, with the request that persons in the vari-
ous towns, with historical interest and local pride, should
take the matter in hand, and that complete lists, so far as
possible, should be made of decedents in the towns as shown
by the memorial stones. The town clerk of Lexington was
asked to interest himself in this plan, and he called it to the
attention of Miss Sarah Eddy Holmes. To her the author
of this paper is much indebted for valuable assistance in its
preparation.

It is interesting, in this connection, to refer in a few
words to the earliest history of this town, as it has been
laboriously and, I am sure, accurately set down by the Rev.
Carleton A. Staples, the warm-hearted, earnest Christian
minister of the First Parish.

Did it ever occur to you, who live in Lexington in 1902,
to recall your ancestors, those who in 1638 came out here

98 EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS.

to the Cambridge Farms, into the wilderness, from the httle
towns of Boston and Watertown ? Do you reahze how quaint
they were in their dress and their speech, and how stern in
their rehgion and their forms of daily life ; how they put
forth their muscle and their brawn to wrest from nature
the treasures which she held bound up in the woods and
the fields and the meadows of the town ?

It is a matter of history and of evolution, if it may so be
called, to note how the course of the town went on, as that
of all our towns has done ; with allegiance to the king and
the royal government ; how the people took part in the In-
dian wars, and how Hugh Mason and John Mason and the
others were in the Narragansett war ; how Edmund Mun-
roe and his kinsmen went off with the Roger's Rangers,
and spared not their lives at Ticonderoga and Lake George ;
how Parson Clarke harbored in his home Hancock and
Adams, and there, at that time, wrote philippics which
were strongholds for the men of Middlesex County. Do
you recall that here, on Lexington Common, the first actual
resistance to British control took place, by which I mean
that the spirit of the English men, who came to this coun-
try in 1620 and 1630, filled with the spirit of Magna Charta,
would not be satisfied except with every liberty which the
principles of their birthright could furnish ?

If it be true that Herlackenden came, personally or by
proxy, to this neighborhood in 1638 and died in the same
year, and if Pelham came about that year and soon married
the widow of Herlackenden, holding many acres of ground
in the centre of the town, with only one house until the
Pelham family sold to Muzzey in 1693 ; — these facts would
imply a very small clientele within the limits of the up-in-
town village from which to draw denizens for the ancient
burying-ground. But Mr. Staples tells us there were forty

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. 99

houses and two hundred inhabitants in the town in 1693,
and, while the centre was held as a large manor property,
there were many outlying farms and holdings which were
brought into the limits of the newly incorporated town in
1 71 3. Such an analysis seems needed as a preliminary to
the question, " Who ought to have been laid in our bury-
ing-ground ? "

It is natural to suppose that, with the earliest conditions
of the population of our country towns, the dead were
buried on the farms, at least till the parish, the church and
the public burying-ground were established ; but no evi-
dences of such burials, by headstones or otherwise, are
known to-day. At the same time we do not know that
the burying-grounds are not as old as the settlements.
The stones are no certain guide to the age of graveyards.

I have been told that, besides the old burying-ground, the
burials beneath the battle monument, the Robbins cemetery
n the East Village and the new cemetery, there are no known
places of sepulture in our town.

Since writing this I learn that a tomb was built on the
Reuben Reed place on the Lowell turnpike, and that it
may still be there ; also that the bodies of some who were
buried on the Nathaniel Pierce place were removed some
years ago to the new cemetery.

I find that in 1692 John Munroe gave the town a plot of
land for a burying-ground ; he was the son of the immigrant
William, and himself the father of ten children by his wife
Hannah ; he was a subscriber to the meeting-house, and
filled many offices in the gift of the town ; he was employed
many years to ring the bell and " sweep out the meeting-
house," and was finally gathered to his fathers in 1753.
This plot of land is the northwest portion of the present
ground ; its northern limit corresponds to a line drawn in

ICX) EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS.

front of the four tombs at the right of the present entrance
avenue, and is continued to the back wall. This limit is the
northern boundary of the Munroe land and the southern
limit of the Pelham property.

In 1747 the ground was enlarged by purchase of land
from William Munroe, "the blacksmith" (1701-1783), by
a committee of which William Munroe (1703-1747) was the
chairman. You all know the account of his getting cold
while haying in his meadow, and that he was the first buried
in this portion of the ground.

In 181 1 a plot of land was bought just outside the pas-
sage to the old ground on the Pelham, land and on this four
tombs were built, which bear the names of Harrington,
Augustus, Munroe and Fessenden.

Three of the name of Jonathan Harrington were present
at the Battle of Lexington. Jonathan Harrington married
Ruth Fiske, was wounded on the battlefield, dragged him-
self to his own doorstep now on Elm Avenue, and died in
the presence of his wife. Jonathan Harrington, b. May 21,
1723, d. 1809, mar. Widow Abigail Dunster. His daughter
Rebecca married Edmund Munroe in 1769, who was killed
at Monmouth in 1778. His son, Jonathan, the fifer of the
minute-men and the last survivor of the Battle of Lexing-
ton, is buried with him in the same tomb.

Later an additional lot of land was bought by various
residents of the town, to the north of the four tombs and
extending to the northeast limit. It is known as the Pro-
prietor's Lot. A list of those buried in this plot is given
with the copy deposited with the Historic -Genealogical
Society.

Still later a lot of land was set aside by members of the
Robbins and Simonds families. A lithograph of this portion
of the burying-ground, from a drawing of Mr. Eli M.
Robbins, accompanies this paper.

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. lOI

The private burying-ground of the Robbins family in the
East Village was established by Stephen Robbins (1758-
1847). Twenty-one epitaphs are now found in this yard ;
but it is well known that some hundred persons have
been buried there. A complete list was given by Caira
Robbins to her nephew, Eli M. Robbins, and this was
copied by him and placed in one of the record books of the
town. It has now been copied by Miss Holmes and is in-
corporated with this paper.

It is interesting to note the oldest known stones in the
town.

Daniel Tedd (Tidd) died November 29, 1690. This is
the oldest stone which we find to-day.

Isaac Stone died December 10, 1690.

Lydia Meriam, December 29, 1690.

Mary, wife of Joseph Teed, and Rachel, daughter of John
and Rachel Stone died August 31, 1692.

" Sacred to Liberty and the rights of mankind." Cer-
tainly no mortuary record of the town of Lexington would
be complete which did not recall the names on the battle
monument on the village green.

" Ensign Robert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley,
Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzey, Caleb Harrington,
John Brown, Asahel Porter of Woburn " fell on that day,
the first victims to the sword of British tyranny and oppres-
sion," as the words of the monument give it. It is known
that the bodies of those who were killed at the Battle of
Lexington were buried together at a spot on the northerly
side of the Munroe plot or perhaps just outside it ; there
they rested till 1835, when the bodies were removed to the
monument, then built, where they now remain.

I hesitate to record a criticism of Hudson's accuracy, —
to call attention to his copy of the inscription on the monu-

102 EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS.

ment. "Sacred to liberty and the rights of mankind"
reads the strong, virile, noble epitaph of Parson Clarke.
"Sacred to the liberty and the right of mankind" is the
enfeebled copy as I find it on page 217 of the town history.
The men of 1775 periled their lives in the sacred cause of
Liberty in its absolute and concrete form. Note that Par-
son Clarke gives the word "liberty" first, making it supe-
rior to and inclusive of the rights of mankind and of the
freedom and independence of America. The epitaph is a
masterly and noble production and has often been referred
to. Pity that the pith of its first and strongest line should
have been taken out by the insertion of an offending article.

Joshua Simonds, who died in 1805 and is laid in the old
burying-ground, was in the meeting-house with the town
powder on the 19th of April when the British came up to
the common. He was determined, if the enemy came into
the church, to blow up the powder, even if his own life were
lost by the means. On the passage of the troops he found a
straggling British soldier, whom he forced to surrender.
He took his gun and marched the man to Burlington.
There he delivered the prisoner and his gun to Captain
Parker, and it is this gun, given by Parker's descendants to
the State, which is now in the Representatives' Hall at the
State House.

Mr. E. M. Robbins's grand uncle, Thomas Robbins, was
carrying milk to Boston on the 19th of April ; he was met
and made a prisoner near Alewive Brook in West Cam-
bridge (Menotomy), and was brought to Buckman's Tavern
with David Harrington, another prisoner, where they were
released. Mr. E. M. Robbins had this fact from the origi-
nal folk.

Benjamin Wellington, coming down the " Back Road,"
now Pleasant Street, in the East Village, was made a pris-

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. 103

oner by the British, but was afterwards released, and made
his way over Mount Independence to the common, and
engaged in the contests of the day.

This record is copied from the monument, erected by his
descendants, at the junction of the present Massachusetts
Avenue and Pleasant Street in the East Village :

Near this spot

at early dawn on the

19th of April, 1775,

Benjamin Wellington,

a minute-man,

was surprised by British

scouts and dismissed.

With undaunted courage

he borrowed another gun and

hastened to join his comrades

on Lexington Green.

He also served his country

at White Plains and

Saratoga.

The first armed man

taken in the Revolution.

A British soldier was buried in the ground of the Munroe
purchase. He was wounded on the 19th of April, and car-
ried to the Buckman Tavern, where he died on the 22d.
He was buried at a spot near the Eustis monument. Mr.
Eli M. Robbins had the exact spot pointed out to him by
Abijah Harrington, who died within a few years. Harring-
ton's father was sexton in 1775, had buried the soldier and
knew the spot well. The exact spot has been pointed out to
the writer. The grave should have a permanent mark.

The pathetico-tragic stone near the entrance of the bury-

104 EPITAPHS IN BURVING-G ROUNDS.

ing-ground chronicles the fact that six out of seven children
of the Child family died at tender ages, within eleven days
of each other. It points, very likely, to diphtheria, or
"throat distemper," as the nomenclature of that day gave
it. Another case of five in one family, and still another of
three, are of similar import.

The various forms of belief of our ancestors in the final
resurrection seem to be brought out in the epitaphs in the
Lexington and other burying-grounds. Without entering
into a theological discussion, — the creed of our early New
England people seems to have been thus summarized :
Granted that there is a God, and that a future world will
exist, the theology of some two hundred years ago seems
to have provided that, at some indefinite future period —
it may be centuries or aeons hence — a phenomenon will
occur which will be known as the Resurrection, when the
actual graves will be opened, the constituents of our
earthly, material bodies be drawn from the soil or mar-
shaled from the air, with which they shall have incorpor-
ated themselves, and shall appear in earthly, not spiritual
forms, before a tribunal which shall doom them, on a very
indefinite form of decision, either to a fixed condition of per-
fect happiness, whatever that may imply, or by an equally
uncertain line of demarcation to a certain condition of tor-
ture, physical or mental, through endless ages ; this as the
result of the few years of our earthly existence. To us of
this material and free-thinking age, many questions arise
and jostle together in our minds, seeking a solution ; but let
them pass. The question naturally comes up to us, with
the reasoning powers which God has given us, if such arbi-
trary decisions of utter happiness or inevitable and unceas-
ing torment are conformable to the love, the justice of the
Supreme Being who rules our destinies. But that these

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. 10$

views of the resurrection obtained in the years of long ago
may be learned from some of the epitaphs.

Mary Buckman, wife of John Buckman, the senior, is
made to say :

Dear friends, for me pray do not weep ;
I am not dead, but here do sleep
Within this solid lump of clay
Until the Resurrection day ;
And here indeed I must remain
Till Christ shall raise me up again.

And of Mary Chandler, daughter of Major John, who
died so late as 1818, it was said:

Like roses cropt in their bloom,
She's carried to the silent tomb.
There speechless in dust to lie
Till the trump sounds on high.

It is an interesting point, though it may be thought a
minor one, to consider the character of the stones used for
memorials. In the impecunious condition of our early
ancestors, it is undoubtedly the fact that no stones, or else
rude pasture stones, were used to mark the final resting-
place.' As a warmer regard for the decedents dawned on
the survivors, or, perhaps, more money was obtainable, a
certain sacredness attached to the place of sepulture, and
more elaborate forms of stone, or at least some stones,
marked the place of burial.

The cast-off body was committed to the earth, but the
sentiment of those who were left behind showed itself by
a species of evolution in the general tenor of the epitaphs.
The bald theology of the earlier years became softened by
the milder tenets of more recent belief. The dictum of the

I06 EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS.

early pastor that children dying in infancy were doomed to
everlasting perdition ; that the cry of the sorrowing mother,
authentically reported, was answered by the stern New Eng-
land minister that there was no hope for the child who had
died, and that hell was paved with infant skulls ■ — such
belief, or, at least, forms of words simulating belief, has
passed away, and the faith of modern Christianity regard-
ing the " little children " has come back to the words of
the Saviour, — "of such is the kingdom of heaven."
How touching is the epitaph of Henry True Brown :

This lovely bud, so young and fair.
Called hence by early doom :
Just come to show how sweet a flower
In Paradise would bloom.

The epitaph was originally written in 1819 by Leigh
Richmond, and may be found over the grave of Ann
Steatt at Islington, near London.

A few more quaint epitaphs may be noted.

Of Mrs. Sarah Childs it is said :

Friends nor physicians could not save
My mortal body from the grave :
Nor can the grave confine me here
When Jesus calls me to appear.

David Cutler

No house of pleasure 'bove ground
Do I expect to have.
My bed of rest for sleeping found
I've made the silent grave.

EPITAPHS IN BURYIi\G-GROUNDS.

107

Mrs. Sarah Dudley :

Christ my redeemer lives

And often from the skies

Looks down and watches all my dust

Till he shall bid it rise.

Joseph Brown :

" who having for many years used the office of deacon well
in the church of Christ in Lexington, purchased to himself
a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in
Christ, who departed this life in the 86th year of his age."

There are many examples of the old epitaph :

Behold, all you that passeth by,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now so you will be.
Prepare for death and follow me.

Indeed, this old verse has been much used in all burying-
grounds from the time when it was rendered, in very old
French, on the tomb of Edward, the Black Prince, in 1376,
as it may be seen in Canterbury Cathedral, and as Petti-
grew, in his collection of epitaphs, gives it in a dozen places
in England.

Somewhat differently rendered we find it at Tichfield, in
England, over the grave of James Steward in 1794, and
repeated at Lexington :

Time was I stood where thou dost now
And view'd the dead as thou dost me :
Ere long thou'lt lie as low as I
And others stand and look on thee.

1 08 EPITA PHS IN B UR YING-GROUNDS.

Of my ancestor, Ruhamah (Wellington) Brown, it is said :

'Tis but a few whose days amount
To threescore years and ten :
And all beyond that short account
To sorrow, toil and pain.

It is a more cheerful anticipation which is figured in the
epitaph of Mrs. Dorothy Tidd :

While she sleeps beneath the sod
We hope she's gone to rest with God.

It is a bit of stern realism which crops out in the epitaph
which claims :

Lo ! in the law Jehovah dwells,
But Jesus is concealed ;
Whereas the Gospel's nothing else
But Jesus Christ revealed.

This is in a hopeful vein :

No death is sudden to a soul prepar'd
When God's own hour brings God's reward :
Her death (and such, Oh reader, wish thy own)
Was free from terrors and without a groan :
Her spirit to himself the Almighty drew,
Mild as the sun exhales the ascending dew.

It is a queer return to life to credit Abigail Seed, as
shown by her epitaph, with the fact that she had

"extra fingers and toes."

Was there, or not, a double meaning in the inscription at
old Grey Friars in Edinburg, Scotland ?

Here snug in grave my wife doth lie ;
Now she's at rest, and so am I.

EPITAPHS IN BURYING-GROUNDS. 109

To speak once more of the character of the earlier grave-
stones, we find the evidence of native slate and native carv-
ing. When we come down nearer to our own time the
slates are often of a different character, finer in texture,
more carefully tooled, and with the inscriptions only put in
by native workmen. In fact, this is the case all through the
last centuries, — the seventeenth and eighteenth ; we are
told that most of the gravestones were imported from Wales
or England, quarried and carved in those countries, brought
here as ballast and cut, so far as the inscriptions go, in this
country. A glance at the gravestones in the Lexington
burying-ground will show if this point be well taken.

Our ancestors were said to have had large families — and
a study of the history of the town bears out this statement.
It is, however, interesting to note that the rate of infant
mortality was larger than obtains to-day, and that both
adults and children succumbed to acute diseases which we
to-day consider preventable and curable. With our modern
knowledge of bacteria, of antisepsis and asepsis, and of
regimen and nutritious food, we can easily see how great is
their influence on the treatment of disease and its conse-
quent mortality.

I may be pardoned for mentioning the markers of the
Sons of the American Revolution, which have been placed
by that society, in loving memory of those who periled
their lives for the establishment of a separate, free and un-
trameled entity of our American people. The society, of
which I have the honor to be president, cordially recognizes
the indebtedness which they owe to the early inhabitants of
Lexington, who on their own village green met, resisted
and practically vanquished the soldiers of King George.

The epitaphs referred to in this paper will be published by the Lex-
ington Historical Society in a separate volume.

THE CONCORD TURNPIKE.
Read by A. Bradford Smith, February io, 1903.

Near the close of the eighteenth century and the begin-
ning of the nineteenth, there were not many roads, and most
of them were crooked and in bad condition. Until 1786
it was fourteen or fifteen miles from Lexington to Boston,
going by the way of Harvard Square, thence through Brook -
line and Roxbury, over the neck to Boston. At one time
there was a tablet in the square, with this inscription :
"Seven miles to Boston," over the great bridge between
Cambridge and Brighton. This bridge was built by Cam-
bridge when Lexington was a part of it. The neck be-
tween Boston and Roxbury was one mile and 117 feet in
length, and was the only way to Boston by land. The
Charles River bridge connecting Boston to Charlestown
was incorporated March 9, 1785, and was opened to public
travel on the 17th of June, 1786 ; the bridge is 1,503 feet in
length, 42 feet in breadth, and cost ^550,000. The archi-
tect was Capt. John Stone. He was buried in Concord,
and the following inscription is on his gravestone : " In
memory of Capt. John Stone, the architect of that modern
and justly celebrated piece of architecture, Charles River
bridge. He was a man of good natural abilities, which
seemed to be adorned with moral virtues and Christian
graces. He departed this life in 1791, in the sixty-third
year of his age."

There were not many modes of conveyance and but few
carriages ; farmers had to go to market with their horse
and ox carts. The first improvement in transportation was
the old Middlesex Canal, incorporated in 1789 and com-

IHE CONCORD TURNPIKE. Ill

pleted in 1808, at an expense of $828,000. That was an
immense sum for those times. Its breadth at the surface
was thirty feet ; at the bottom, twenty feet, and the
depth was four feet. This and other short canals on
the Merrimac opened navigable communication between
Boston and Concord, N. H., boats drawn by horses being
used. They went at the great speed of three miles per
hour. This was the first enterprise of the kind attempted
in the United States. People from Lowell who wanted to
go to Boston shopping would have to stay over night, as
the trip took nine hours and the day was well spent when
they arrived. This canal was in operation until the opening
of the Boston & Lowell Railroad in 1835. After that the
canal was used for the transportation of freight until some-
where in the forties. Another improvement was the build-
ing of the Newburyport turnpike, which was finished in
1806, at an expense of $420,000. Next followed the Lowell
turnpike, built about 1806, the tollgate for which was
near the residence of the late Charles Winship.

The third turnpike, upon which I base my paper, is the
old Cambridge and Concord turnpike, running through the
south part of Lexington.

An act to establish a corporation by the name of The Cambridge
and Concord Turnpike Association.

Whereas, the highway leading from Cambridge through Lex-
ington to Concord is circuitous, and the expense of making, straight-
ening and keeping the same in good repair is much greater than can
be reasonably required of said towns :

Section i. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same,
that Jeduthan Wellington, John Richardson, Thomas Heald, Francis
Jarvis, Charles Wheeler, William Wheeler, Jonas Lee, Richard
Richardson, John Stearns, Benjamin Kendall, Thomas Clarke, Peter
Clarke, Ephraim Flint, Ephraim, Flint, Jun., Daniel Brooks, Leonard
Hoar, and Abiel Abbot, together with such others as may hereafter

112 THE CONCORD TURNPIKE.

associate with them and their successors, be, and they hereby are made
a corporation by the name and style of The Cambridge and Concord
Turnpike Corporation, and by that name may sue and prosecute and
be sued and prosecuted unto final judgment and execution; and shall
have a common seal and exercise and enjoy all powers and privileges
which are usually given and incident to similar corporations for mak-
ing turnpike roads.

Beginning at or near the dwelling-house of Jonas Wyeth in Cam-
bridge, near the common, and from thence to continue a westerly
course, south of Dr. Andrew Craige's summer house " [near where the
Cambridge Observatory now stands], "and on said course to the
bridge, over the river out of Fresh Pond, so called " [now known as
Alewive Brook] ; " thence on said route about thirty feet south of the
dwelling-house of Richard Richardson; thence on said route south
of the dwelling-house of Joshua Kendall, in said Cambridge" [now
Belmont] ; " thence on the said course, near the dwelling-house of
Joseph Underwood" [which is the first house west of Franklin School-
house]; " thence on the said course near the dwelling-house of Benjamin
Phinney " [better known as the Webster Smith place] ; " then on said
course by the dwelling-house of Thomas Tufts of Lexington ; thence
on said course near the dwelling-houses of Abiel Abbot, Leonard
Hoar, Timothy Brooks and Daniel Brooks, in the town of Lincoln;
thence on said course near the dwelHng-house of Thaddeus Hunt in the
town of Concord ; thence on said course on as straight a line as circum-
stances will admit, to the meeting-house in Concord. And the said
road shall not be less than four rods wide, and the path to be traveled
in, not less than twenty-two feet wide in any part thereof; and when
the said turnpike road shall be sufficiently made, and approved of by
a committee appointed by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace,
for the county of Middlesex, then the said corporation shall be author-
ized to erect two turnpike gates on the said road. And be it further
enacted, that it shall be lawful for said corporation to demand and
receive of each traveler or passenger, at each of the said gates, the
following rates of toll, viz.: For every coach, chariot, photon, or other
four-wheel carriages drawn by two horses, twenty-five cents, and if
drawn by more than two horses, an additional sum of four cents for
each horse ; for every cart or wagon drawn by two oxen or horses,
ten cents, and if drawn by more than two oxen or horses, an additional
sum of three cents for each ox or horse ; for every curricle, fifteen

THE CONCORD TURNPIKE. II3

cents ; for every chaise, chair, or other carriage drawn by one horse,
ten cents ; for every man and horse, five cents ; for every sled or
sleigh drawn by two oxen or horses, an additional sum of two cents,
for each ox or horse ; for every sled or sleigh drawn by one horse,
five cents ; for all horses, mules, oxen or neat cattle, led or driven,
besides those in teams and carriages, one cent each ; and for all
sheep and swine, at the rate of three cents by the dozen, and in that
proportion for a greater or less number. And the said corporation
shall at each place where the said toll shall be collected, erect and
keep constantly exposed to open view, a sign or board, with the rates
of toll of all the tollable articles, fairly and legibly written thereon, in
large or capital characters. And be it further enacted, that if any
person shall willfully or maliciously cut, break down or otherwise
injure or destroy either of the said turnpike gates or signboards, or
shall dig up or carry away any earth from the said road, or in any
manner damage the same, or shall forcibly pass or attempt to pass
the said gates by force without having first paid the legal toll at such
gate, such person shall forfeit and pay a fine not exceding forty
dollars, nor less than two dollars, to be recovered by the treasurer of
the said corporation, And be it further enacted, that the first
meeting of the said corporation shall be held at the house of
Phinehas Paine, inn-holder in Concord, on the fourth Tuesday in
March inst., at two of the clock in the afternoon, for the purpose of
choosing officers, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his
trust. And each proprietor in the said turnpike road, or by his agent
duly authorized in writing, shall have a right to vote in all meetings
of the said corporation, and shall be entitled to as many votes as the
said proprietor has shares in the same; provided his number of said
shares do not exceed ten; but no proprietor shall be entiUed to more
than ten votes, for any greater number of shares he may possess.
And be it further enacted, that the said corporation shall be liable
to pay all damages which shall happen to any person from whom toll
is demandable by this act, for any damage which shall arise from any
defect of bridges, or want of repairs within the same way ; and shall
also be liable to a fine, on the presentment of the Grand Jury, for not
keeping the same way or the bridges thereon in good repair.

In the House of Representatives, March 7, 1803, this bill having
had three several readings, passed to be enacted.

John C. Jones, Speaker.

114 THE CONCORD TURNPIKE.

In Senate, March 7, 1803. This bill having had two several
readings, passed to be enacted.

David Cobb, President.

March 8, 1803. By the Governor approved.

Caleb Strong.
A true copy. Attest :

John Avery, Secretary.

After the road was completed the directors proceeded to
erect two tollgates, and one was built near the residence
of the late Leonard Hoar of Lincoln, the other about one-
half mile west of Fresh Pond, near the estate of Richard
Richardson, who afterwards opened a hotel. Then Mr.
Leonard Hoar concluded to open a public house near the
junction of Concord Avenue and the road leading to Lincoln
Center. After the completion of the turnpike, a worthy
minister from Concord drove over the road in his chaise
one Sunday morning. A few moments afterward a part of
the road over which he had driven disappeared from sight.
There was an advertisement in the Boston papers, which
read as follows : " Lost — A part of the Cambridge and
Concord turnpike. Whoever will return the same will be
suitably rewarded." A part of the road which disappeared
was over a piece of meadow and the weight of the gravel
caused the overflow.

When this turnpike was built, it was customary to
go in a straight line, and this road went over nearly all
the hills between the two places, which might have been
avoided and the distance increased comparatively little,
and then it would have been one of the most attractive
thoroughfares in the county. A line of stages ran over
this road, but owing to the hills and bad condition of the
road, they were soon discontinued. It is my impression
that Jeduthan Wellington was the first president of the

THE CONCORD TURNPIKE. II5

corporation, and his house was located a few rods north-
east of the Belmont town hall. He was nicknamed Jed
Wellington ; and the large hill in Belmont went by the
name of "Jed's Hill" for many years. The road did not
prove a very paying investment, and, after several assess-
ments on the stockholders, they petitioned the county com-
missioners to lay it out as a county road in 1828. After it
became a county road, the abuttors, when they reset their
fences or walls, brought them into the road from one to ten
feet. I know one man who brought his fence in ten feet,
and there are places on the road not much more than fifty
feet between the walls. About thirty or forty years ago
Lincoln people altered the grade of the hills in that town,
which greatly improved the road.

The section of the town near the turnpike was very dear
to the gifted Theodore Parker, who was born in close prox-
imity to it, and traveled over the road to school. As he
was a lover of nature, all the birds and trees in that vicinity
were dear friends, and he analyzed their special gifts and
protected them from harm. There was a very tall pine-tree
on the turnpike that was a landmark for miles around. It
was said Mr. Parker, hearing that it was to be cut down,
went to the owner, saying that if he would spare that tree
he would pay him what he would receive for the wood.
Suffice it to say the tree remained, the owner being too
kind-hearted a man to take the proffered bounty. Recently,
when a fire swept through those woods, the tree was so
badly affected that its life-sustaining power was gone, and
it was deemed advisable to cut it down. It was known for
some time as the " Parker Pine," and the present owner of
the estate thinks of erecting a summer house on the old
site.

Many pleasant recollections cluster round the Concord

Il6 THE CONCORD TURNPIKE.

turnpike, which come forcibly to mind as I recall the past, —
tender remembrance of large and worthy families who dwelt
on this road and tilled the soil or were diligent in other
vocations, most of them now scattered, and many of them
reaping the reward of work well done, in the heavenly
home. The road still remains one of the loveliest and most
retired in our town, richly beautiful in natural scenery,
abounding in fine, noble trees and lovely wild-flowers ; much
used for pleasure driving in the summer and fall. As the
old turnpike is quite a factor in the past of our town, may
coming generations cherish this road, rich now with so
much beauty !

EARLY DAYS OF THE LEXINGTON
HIGH SCHOOL.

Read by Miss Mary E. Hudson, October 13, 1903.

With the close of the present school year, the Lexington
High School completes the first half-century of its history,
and, to some of us who saw its small beginnings, it has
seemed a fitting thing that some record should be made of
the vicissitudes which marked its early career, while it was
fighting its hard fight for continued existence.

In the year 17 16, as the town records show, the first
public school of Lexington was established on Lexington
Common. One hundred and thirty-eight years of slow
development were required before the citizens of Lexing-
ton, in town meeting assembled, in May, 1854, made the first
appropriation for a high school in the town. A primary
and grammar school in each of the two villages and an un-
graded school in three outlying districts made up the edu-
cational system of Lexington at that time, and, in this, the
town was in no way behind her sister towns of the same
population and money valuation. Private schools of varying
degrees of excellence had from time to time been estab-
lished in our midst and, one after another, had closed a pre-
carious existence with few to mourn their untimely end.
To country academies or young ladies' seminaries went a
few of our more favored youth, but for the most of our
young people the district school was the only alma mater.
But a new day was dawning in the educational world. High
schools were springing up on every side and the day of the
village academy seemed drawing to a close. In 1853 the

Il8 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

question of a high school for Lexington was first publicly
discussed, but failed to gain popular support. In the fol-
lowing year, 1854, a vigorous movement was made, a com-
mittee was appointed to consider the subject in all its lights,
and, at an adjourned town meeting in May, the committee
reported unanimously in favor of the project and recom-
mended an appropriation of five hundred dollars "for
high-school purposes," the regular school appropriation at
that time, being twenty-five hundred.

The report was vigorously assailed. Conservatives,
in bursts of dramatic oratory doubted the wisdom of the
new departure ; but the broader spirit of our citizens tri-
umphed over all opposition, the munificent appropriation
was made, and the Lexington High School was an estab-
lished institution in the town.

To the school committee was assigned the duty of pro-
viding a suitable room for our reception, and the upper
chamber in the town hall was selected for the purpose.
Here on the morning of September 4, 1854, with hearts
beating high with eager anticipations, we gathered, twenty
girls and ten boys, the first pupils in the first term of the
new high school.

With curious eyes, as we climbed the winding stairs, we
inspected our new surroundings, and, when compared with
the attractive classrooms our successors enjoy to-day, it
cannot be vSaid our quarters were palatial. This upper
room in the town hall, intended for occasional use as a com-
mittee room, was but poorly adapted to the needs of thirty
well grown pupils, and to those who have known that room
only as a recitation room or chemical laboratory, it may well
be an enigma how we adapted ourselves to such restricted
quarters. The chamber was just thirty feet long and
twenty -two feet wide. Lighted only from one end, black-

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 1 19

boards around three sides darkened it still more. The three
uncurtained windows were not over clean and the arched
ceiling was none too white. At the left of the entrance
door, on a slightly raised platform, stood the teacher's table.
Facing that door and table were three rows of double desks
exactly accomodating the thirty pupils who presented them-
selves for admission. These desks, with the necessary
recitation seats, so filled our limited quarters that one can
readily understand how the gymnastic exercises enjoyed by
the pupils of a later day would have been quite impossible
for us. Indeed, I remember how, when our first teacher
indulged in some of his peripatetic wanderings up and down
our narrow aisles, he sometimes came in sudden and un-
pleasant collision with the sharp corners of our desks.

At the right of the entrance door there stood a big, black,
clumsy stove, a hungry devourer of coal, from which the
resulting amount of heat was lamentably small. Up from
this monstrous structure there rose, with numerous elbows,
an ugly smokepipe which meandered along the ceiling until
it disappeared in a hole in the opposite wall. No doubt
a chimney was somewhere there concealed, but it has left
no impress on my memory.

On the rear wall of the room, above the central window,
there appeared a strange, box-like excrescence of unpainted
pine, popularly termed a ventilator. The opening and shut-
ting of a valve in its front regulated, theoretically, the ven-
tilation of the room ; but, as the ventilator never was
finished and the connection with the outside air never es-
tablished, it made little difference to us when the string
attached to the valve broke off and the structure ceased
a pretence of usefulness. With a heated stovepipe over
our heads, no oxygen to speak of to supply thirty pairs of
vigorous lungs, and no outlet for the vitiated air but a small

120 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

open funnel hole over the teacher's desk, leading into one
of the anterooms facing the street, well was it for our peace
of mind that we knew nothing of germs and microbes in
those days, and plodded on in happy ignorance of the dire-
ful perils we were incurring day by day.

Here in this room the high school began its work, and
while the season continued mild we were well content with
our surroundings. But there came a day, and all too soon
it came, when bodily discomfort gravely interfered with
mental growth and development. The winter of 1854 and
1855 was a hard one, and our schoolroom was very cold.
The floor, through whose yawning seams the cold wind
came in gusts, was like ice to our aching feet, and many
were the expedients by which we strove to better our con-
dition. Pieces of carpeting, thick shawls and hot soapstones
were placed under our feet, and one enterprising girl carried
a big, big squirrel muff, in whose recesses she buried her
hands during the walk to school, and her feet when the
school was reached. We tested the temperature one bitter
day by placing on the floor, near the window, a tin cup half
filled with water, and watched with curious eyes the ice
formation which followed very soon. One young girl,
whose abundant tresses lent themselves readily to the then
favorite fashion of flowing curls, came to school one morn-
ing with her falling locks still damp from the hand of the
hairdresser. The way was long and the mercury down in
the zeros, and before her destination was reached those
curling locks were stiff. Tradition says that all through
that long, cold day in that arctic schoolroom those frozen
ringlets never thawed out. I do not vouch for this, but I
give it on the authority of a lady who is now a grandmother
and whose reputation for truth and veracity has ever been
above suspicion.

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 121

This state of things could not long continue without a
vigorous protest from the sufferers, and our grievances were
laid before the school committee with all due force and
directness. Truth compels the admission that the re-
ception we met was almost as cold as our schoolroom.
Theoretically, that big stove was sufficient for all our needs.
If fact and theory disagreed the committee argued that the
fault was ours, and one bitter morning a reverend member
of the Board made his appearance in our midst with the
avowed purpose of proving to us by practical demonstration
that dire ignorance in managing our fire was the cause of
all our distress. The boy pupil who usually acted as fire-
man was excused from duty for the time, and with a con-
fidence in his own success which was beautiful to behold,
our good friend Mr. Leland took his place. All through
that long forenoon he poked and he shoveled, he watched
the thermometer and he rattled the grate till he grew red
in the face and warm from exercise, though all else in the
room was cold.

We gave our studies but a divided attention that morn-
ing as with curious eyes we watched his countenance, from
which the look of triumph was fast fading away as the
stubborn mercury refused to climb above its accustomed
level. When the mid-day intermission came, with a grace
which won our respect and admiration, Mr. Leland ac-
knowledged his defeat and promised us immediate relief, if
relief were possible. Accordingly a second stove was in-
troduced into the corner diagonally opposite the first, — a
small cylindrical affair, as modest and unpretending as the
other was big and impudent. The only apparent result was
that two or three seats in its immediate vicinity were made
unpleasantly warm, another heated funnel was over our
heads and the rest of the room was just as cold as ever.

122 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

Recognizing the hopelessness of the situation, we accepted
the inevitable with what grace we might, helped, it may be,
by the fact that our own homes, in 1854, were not the hot-
houses some of us know to-day. Furnaces were by no
means the rule, the steam radiator was seldom seen, and
hot-water heat was quite unknown.

Our familiarity with cold halls and draughty corners may
have helped us bear the discomforts of our schoolroom.
Be that as it may, we shivered through the winter and es-
caped from its rigors with no serious injury to health or
happiness.

Our first teacher, Mr. George Washington Dow, was a
graduate of Waterville, Me., and came to us, I think, from
a school in Providence. It cannot be claimed for him that,
either in personal characteristics or in literary attainments,
he was an ideal instructor for the young. In early life he
had been a common sailor on board a whaling ship and
many were the reminiscences of wintry seas and arctic ice
with which he regaled his youthful pupils. That he worked
his way out of such environments and, turning his back on
whaleboat and harpoon, sought and won a degree from one
of our rural colleges, would certainly indicate a steadiness
of purpose and an aspiration for something better than his
early manhood promised. When he came to Lexington
his youth was already past, he had little polish of manner
or grace of speech, and in many ways he fell short of what
we now consider essential in a high-school principal. But
we must never forget that the standards of those days were
not the standards of to-day. The modest stipend he re-
ceived could hardly have attracted a teacher of a higher
grade, while the uncertain future which faced this new
high school during this, its trial year, made it impossible to
procure what, even in that day, the committee might have

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 123

desired. So, under all the circumstances, they undoubtedly
did their best. Under these conditions, and hampered by
these restrictions, our high-school days began, and to Mr.
Dow's resolute purpose and his enthusiasm for his work
we undoubtedly owed much of the success which marked
our opening year.

Opposed by some of our leading citizens, we knew our
school was on trial for its life, and for six long hours each
day teacher and pupils, with what strength they might,
worked for the cause which affected them all so nearly.
There was little of system in our course of study. We
entered when we pleased and withdrew when convenience
or inclination dictated. Under these circumstances, the
grade of the school could not be high. In some things it
may have fallen below the standard of a well-ordered gram-
mar school of the present day ; but it was a decided advance
on what we had ever known before, and with an honest
pride we strove to maintain the advantage thus far gained.

Latin, French, history, rhetoric and a little of the natural
sciences held a place in our curriculum, but in mathematics
in its various forms and in a thorough knowledge of our
mother-tongue lay our strength, our pride and our ambition.
We studied plain old English grammar, and we plodded
through Greene's Analysis till we knew every subject and
predicate in the language and were as familiar with com-
pound subjects and predicates as with the simplest words
of our vocabulary. The many details may have faded from
our memories, but I think the underlying principles remain .
Half a century ago the spelling-book still held an honored
place in every well-ordered schoolroom, and pleasant mem-
ories still linger of the old-fashioned spelling.matches with
which we occasionally varied the monotony of our daily
written exercises. Well would it be for some of us to-day,
if we yet retained the skill we then acquired.

124 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

In foreign tongues our principal could not be called a
proficient, but he drilled us in the intricacies of the French
Grammar as resolutely as he schooled us in our own, and
on the Latin declensions and conjugations we practised till
they reeled off our tongues with the regularity of clock-
work. The Roman pronunciation had not then obtained
in school or university, and we rendered the Latin words
in the good, old-fashioned English way.

Although his accent may not have been Parisian, nor his
translations remarkable for elegance of diction, Mr. Dow's
mathematical proficiency atoned for many defects. In the
long hours on the whaleship, in the silence of the arctic
seas, he had studied into the intricacies of navigation, and
the results served him well in the work of his later life.
We were drilled in arithmetic, algebra and geometry with
a thoroughness not soon to be forgotten nor lightly to be
valued. Good old Colburn's Mental Arithmetic had not then
quite passed into disuse, but he substituted for it impro-
vised mental exercises of his own dictation which answered
every purpose and possessed the added merit of unexpected-
ness. Few of his pupils will soon forget the mental com-
putations which formed a regular part of our weekly work.
At his dictation we added six, multiplied by eight, subtracted
seventeen and divided by nine, until a woman's most diffi-
cult task, the reckoning of her change on a shopping ex-
pedition, lost half its terrors in the years that were to come.
Not all of us were experts in this mental work. We soon
learned who would solve the problem first, and I may here
be allowed to say that the hand which was often the first
to wave triumphantly in air was the hand which, in later
years, guided up the hill of knowledge so many of our
younger boys and girls. If the tree be known by its fruit,
then that successful private school which so long occupied

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 12$

Gary Hall should speak something in behalf of the Lexing-
ton High School in this, its opening year.

As a relief from the monotonous round of our daily
tasks, our Fridays were made memorable by the literary
exercises of our afternoon sessions. Selected readings, dec-
lamations and original compositions made up a programme
of unquestioned interest to our auditors, whatever may have
been the sentiments of the trembling participants.

The stammering speech of a frightened schoolboy must
have done scant justice to the ponderous words of Web-
ster or Calhoun, and the musical flow of Mrs. Hemans'
lines found a poor interpretation in the half-audible render-
ing of a bashful girl. But greater the trepidation and far
more painful the nervous strain when, one by one, in obedi-
ence to a merciless school law, we rose in our places to read,
for the benefit of our visiting relatives and friends, the
poor, crude productions of our untried pens. Under more
favorable conditions, with a competent instructor to teach
us elocution and to curb our rhetorical flights, these exer-
cises might have been of lasting benefit to us all. But, alas,
no such conditions existed. The girls, with some honorable
exceptions, inclined to a high-flown, sentimental style of
composition, tinged, for some unexplained reason, with a
hopeless melancholy, quite at variance with the bright,
happy spirit of the writers.

No topics were assigned us by our teacher, but, in the
selection of our themes, the world was all before us where
to choose. We seem to have developed a striking taste for
fiction, and our youthful imaginations conjured up such tales
of misfortune, sorrow and death as might well have hope-
lessly depressed any other than the happy, light-hearted
girls we really were. The cardinal virtues, the weightiest
questions in ethics, we sometimes discussed with a confi-

126 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

dence in our own youthful judgments which proved anew
how readily " fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

If in an ungarded moment our natural good spirits
resumed their sway and, true to our own cheerful selves,
we penned some bright, girlish lines, it was done in a half-
apologetic way, and we soon fell back into a becoming
sobriety of tone, and delighted our listening friends with
such cheerful topics as " The Exile's Deathbed," " The
Tolling Bell" and ''The Cradle and the Grave," and all
indited in such a high-flown redundancy of style as seems,
to-day, more sad than the themes we chose.

A queer old gentleman said, one day, to a certain young
lady who shall be nameless, " It seems to me you're pretty
circumlocutory." No word that eccentric old man ever
coined could better describe our literary style, and it needed
the merciless criticism of a truthful, if less flattering, home
auditory before some of us realized that plain, straightfor-
ward English was better than flowery rhetoric or too much
circumlocution.

Sometimes we ventured into poetry, and here, indeed,
we needed the wholesome discipline of the censor's pencil.
There were rhymes that jingled, and there were lines that
glowed with the true poetic fire amid much that was weak,
frivolous and childish ; but the friendly critic was wanting
and the real value of those literary afternoons may well be
a question for future instructors to ponder.

But however sentimental or lachrymose might be the
effusions of the young lady pupils, a sterner spirit pervaded
what we called " the boys' side " of the room. Their
themes took a loftier flight. The political skies of those
days were dark and threatening. They were the days of
Bleeding Kansas, of Border Ruffians, and of the murderous
assault on Charles Sumner in the Senate of the United

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 12/

States. The ear of the watchful listener already caught
the mutterings of the coming storm. Our young high-
school boys heard the sound and responded with bursts of
florid patriotism. Very youthful their words were, no
doubt, and, sometimes very diverting to their elders ; but
in the test which followed they all rang true, and when, in
a few short years, the great crisis came and our country
called on her loyal sons to rally to her defence, ten of our
high-school boys responded to the call. It is with pride
that we remember, to-day, that from out our ranks went
Lexington's first volunteer, Edward F, Chandler.

In connection with our literary exercises we issued a
weekly paper, " The Scholars' Offering " by name, on whose
editorial staff we served in groups of four, our term of ser-
vice extending over one issue of the paper. One young
gentleman acted as editor-in-chief, with three young ladies
as assistants in his work. It would be difficult to deter-
mine the exact head under which to class this ambitious
sheet. It was in no way a newspaper. No suspicion of
yellow journalism could ever attach to its pages. Perhaps
the legend '* Good, easy reading," which heads, to-day, a
certain Boston daily, would best describe " The Scholars'
Offering" in the first years of its existence. Typewriters
were unknown in 1854, and in the miscroscopic handwriting
peculiar to the period the editors transferred, to the mon-
strous sheet of blue foolscap, the editorials they penned and
the contributions they begged from their kindly fellow-
pupils. The heading of the sheet, a marvel of elaborate
German text, was the work of a good-natured boy (Samuel
E. Chandler) who loved his pencil better than he loved his
Latin, and gave to many a scroll and flourish the energy
which might better have been bestowed on geometrical
problems or puzzling lines in Virgil. It was not many

128 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

years before he wore the Union blue, and lay, a wounded
prisoner, in the depths of Libby Prison. We have his own
assurance that the memory of those happy, easy-going days
in the old high-school brightened many a dark and weary
hour of that seemingly hopeless captivity.

Shielded behind some fanciful nom-de -plume, in the col-
umns of the Offering, we gave free rein to the exuberant
spirits so rigidly curbed in our more ambitious productions.
No joke was too silly, no riddle too absurd, no parody too
atrocious, for our vandal pens. One ambitious young poet-
ess, I remember, from an imaginary viewpoint at the begin-
ning of the then distant Twentieth Century, pictured the
Lexington High School as she fancied it might be at the
very date at which we, in reality, are standing now. Was
it a foreshadowing of the beautiful new building of to-day
which inspired the lines,

"Where the schoohoom stood, stands a lofty dome,
'Neath whose roof, 'mid whose aisles, I often roam"

And did she foresee something of the ignominious fate of
its humble predecessor when she closed with the remark-
able statement,

" The horned cattle feed in the old schoolroom."

A proper sense of our dignified position as pioneers in
the high-school ranks should, perhaps, have placed us above
the need of any kind of discipline, but truth compels me to
say that we were very human boys and girls, and sometimes
sorely needed a master's restraining hand. W^e were dis-
ciplined, largely, by means of what we knew as a Deduc-
tion Paper, a big, blue sheet which adorned our teacher's
desk, and on which our names were relentlessly inscribed.
Did we laugh, did we whisper, did we stumble in a recita-
tion, did we indulge in any of the many peccadillos so dear

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 129

to the average scholar's heart, down went a black mark
against our names. That awful mark was known as a
deduction, though from what the deduction was made, or
what was the system of ranking, if indeed we were ever
ranked at all, I think only our teachers ever knew. We
only knew that, in some remote way, it was a mark of dis-
grace, and that against some of us the list was ominously
long.

But there were days, and stirring days they were,
when no Deduction Paper could curb the turbulent spirit of
those eager boys and girls. No one of us, I think, can soon
forget that mild spring morning when rebellion swept like a
cyclone through our ranks, bringing pupils and Committee
in fierce collision and leaving wrath and destruction in its
track. We went to our school, on the morning of May i,
1855, a class of orderly, law-abiding pupils. In two short
hours we stood, a band of angry insurgents, casting law
and order to the winds, and bidding defiance to the vested
authorities of the town. The causes of the conflict were
too remote to be recounted here. I am not sure that we
clearly remember them ourselves ; but they spurred us on
to such energetic action as astonished our opponents and sur-
prised ourselves no less. We fully believed in the right-
eousness of our cause, but our belief might have been
expressed in a less aggressive and more conciliatory man-
ner. At the close of the action, victory perched on neither
banner. Before the sun went down that night, our valiant
teacher, in whose behalf we fought the battle, had made
his individual peace with his offended superiors, generously
laying on us who had been his ardent champions the entire
blame for the encounter.

But, though the leader deserted, the rank and file stood
firm. For one week the school was closed. For one week

130 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

those youthful rebels, " pride in their port, defiance in their
eye," stalked up and down our village street, saying, with
John Parker, " If they want a war, let it begin here." At
the week's end neither party capitulated, but the school re-
opened. We were summoned back to our abandoned tasks,
and finished our school year without further incidents. It
may be added, in passing, that our teacher, Mr. Dow, was
finished also, and when the school year ended he folded his
tent like the Arabs and as silently stole away.

Those naughty boys and girls are order-loving men
and women now, not over-proud of the part they played on
that eventful morning, but no history of that first year at
the high-school would be complete with this, its most excit-
ing episode, left out. The echoes of the conflict have long
since died away, but through the silence of the many inter-
vening years I hear, in fancy, the old childish rhyme, which
best determines the relative merits of the contest,

" You both were wrong,
And both were right,
And both were very impolite."

Perhaps it was well for the future of our school that the
question of its continuance for another year had already
been decided. The opposition was by no means dead, but
the hard, honest work we did during that first trial year and
the creditable showing made at our public examinations had
changed into firm supporters many who had once been but
lukewarm in our cause. At the annual town meeting in
March, 1855, the citizens gave us their unqualified indorse-
ment by doubling the high-school appropriation of the pre-
vious year, besides making a small addition to the amount
raised for the several district schools in the town. There
were anxious hearts awaiting the verdict that day, and

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 131

when the glad news reached him, one enthusiastic boy, with
a zeal far outrunning the limited means at his command,
by a salute on Belfry Hill from one old musket, supple-
mented by a bunch of firecrackers, announced to a listening
world that our cause was won, and the Lexington High
School had taken on a new lease of life.

Transferred from our dimly lighted upper chamber to
the larger, more airy and far more cheerful lower hall,
under the direction of a teacher whose youthful energy and
broader culture left their unquestioned impress on the
pliant minds of his pupils, the high school, in September,
1855, entered on its second year of work and usefulness, —
a work which has broadened far beyond the bounds our
eyes could then discern and a usefulness whose limits we
may not, even now, accurately measure.

With our standard of scholarship a little higher, our
curriculum a little broader and our methods a Httle more in
keeping with the recognized system of the day, we gave to
our new principal, Mr. H'. O. Whittemore, a more hearty
co-operation than his predecessor could command, and a
gradual gain in the standing of the school was the direct
result. We still had obstacles to encounter. Cold as our
upper room had been, the heating properties of the furnace
in the lower hall were even more unsatisfactory, and during
the three cold winter months we went back to our attic and
tried to tell ourselves that we were comfortable. For the
rest of the year the lower room was our home, and we dwelt
there undisturbed, save when the approach of one of Lex-
ington's numerous town meetings brought us an enforced
vacation, while our desks were hurriedly taken up and hud-
dled into a corner and the room was restored to its original
status as a town hall. But, notwithstanding these minor
drawbacks, it was a bright, sunny, happy period in the

132 EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL.

history of the high school, and marked a decided advance
in the town's educational standing.

It is not the province of this paper to follow the later
fortunes of the school. If in this imperfect sketch of its
opening year I have given any adequate idea of the restric-
tions and obstacles we faced, and have shown, in ever so
poor a way, the contrast between then and now, my pur-
pose will be quite fulfilled.

Who were those first scholars in the Lexington High
School, and how have they used the privileges they enjoyed }
There were familiar Lexington names on that school reg-
ister. There were Whitman and Bridge and Parker and
Turner and Phelps and Butters and Knight and Nash and
Pierce and Muzzey and Chandler and Saville and Goodwin
and Bryant, and many more with which I will not weary
you to-night. From all quarters of the town they came,
and here, for the first time. East Lexington, Scotland, Kite
End and Concord Hill met on common ground in the
center of our good old Lexington. Together we worked
with a will and an earnestness which cold and discomfort
could not overcome, and into the work of life, which came
to us so soon, we carried many a memory which is priceless
to us to-day. There are gray heads among those scholars
now. There are devoted mothers and grandmothers, there
are veteran and honored teachers, there are upright and
successful business men, among our numbers. Some have
served their town in positions of trust and honor, some have
bled for their country on Southern battlefields, and some
are sleeping in soldiers' graves, to-day, over which the
Grand Army flag floats in perpetual remembrance.

And we tenderly recall one bright, strong, merry-
hearted girl, one of the bravest and noblest of us all, who,
after years of successful work in the Boston schools, gave

EARLY DAYS OF HIGH SCHOOL. 133

herself, heart and soul, to the study of a chosen profession,
and fell by the wayside, just as she had gained, with marked
distinction, the goal she so much coveted.*
When we remember these, there are, indeed,

" things of which we may not speak,
There are dreams that cannot die,

There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,

And bring a pallor into the cheek
And a mist before the eye."

Those pleasant high-school days are long since past.
The places that once knew us know us no more. Our dear
old building, shorn of its architectural beauty, has de-
scended to a level too pitiful to contemplate. The hurry-
ing steps of our successors have long since trodden out the
last faint footprint we left behind ; but, with hearts that
still warm to the memories of the dear old days and beat
with cordial sympathy for those who follow where we led
the way, we, the pioneers of the Lexington High School,
extend to the pupils of to-day our warm congratulations,
simply reminding them that, unto whom so much more has
been given, of them shall very much more be required.

* Dr. Martha F. Wiiitm;ui

CLOCK-MAKING IN LEXINGTON.
Read by Miss Elizabeth W. Harrington, February io, 1903.

Very few facts relating to the manufacture of clocks in
Lexington have been preserved. The first clocks were
made by the Mullikens, and many are now in existence
still keeping excellent time. Robert (or Benjamin) MuUi-
ken came from Glasgow, Scotland, to Boston, Mass., an
emigrant, in 1683, ^^ the age of eighteen, and moved to
Bradford, Mass., between the years 1683 and 1688. He
was the first gravestone maker in Essex County, producing
headstones between 1723 and 1737. While the gravestones
seemed to mark the end of Time, the descendants of Robert
were bent on marking the progress of time, as most of them
took up the business of clock-making, some in Newbury-
port and some in Bradford and later in Concord and Lex-
ington. Nathaniel Mulliken and his brother Samuel, sons
of the emigrant, made tall clocks in Bradford and peddled
them around the country, as was the custom of the day,
taking orders, or leaving a clock at each house to be tried
and proved, much as sewing machines are left at houses
for trial at the present day. In pursuit of his calling, on
one propitious day, Nathaniel visited Lexington and set up
one of his timepieces in the house of Deacon John Stone,
near Lincoln. In the words of Mr. Hudson, " It would seem
that the family were well pleased with the beating of the
clock, and the heart of the youngest daughter beat so in
unison with that of the maker that she was willing to leave
the timepiece in her father's house and place herself in a
situation where she would know more of the clocks and
their young maker." Nathaniel Mulliken and Lucy Stone

CLOCK-MAKING IN LEXINGTON. 135

were married in 1751 and it was probably about this time
that they came to Hve in Lexington, he buying the house
and shop standing where Mr. Norris has built his house on
Massachusetts Avenue, nearly opposite the lower entrance
to the cemetery, and there set up the clock-making busi-
ness and carried it on for about sixteen years, till he died
in 1767. He was also a blacksmith and was very proud of
the andirons he made in his blacksmith's shop, near the
house. Mr. Norris tells me that in digging for his founda-
tion about 1890, he found bricks and other indications of
the cellar wall of the Mulliken house and shop. Nathaniel,
2d, with his mother, after his father's death, followed the
business about ten years, till by the wanton act of the
British soldiery, on their return from Concord, on the 19th
of April, his house and shop were burned and he died the
next winter, aged twenty-four. His loss was ;^43i.

This second Nathaniel must have been very ingenious,
for it is a fact that he invented a musical clock, which, in
deference to the strict prejudices of our Puritan fathers,
played psalm tunes on Sundays and Moll Brooks (or Marl-
brook, intended to ridicule the old Duke of Marlborough) and
other lively tunes on week-days. The works of this clock
were removed and afterward found in the knapsack of a
wounded British soldier in Maiden or Medford. He made
the clock lately owned by Miss Sarah Chandler, a descen-
dant, and now owned by Mrs. George H. Reed.

Nathaniel's brother Joseph, having learned the trade of
his uncle in Bradford, made clocks in Concord later. His
brother John learned cabinet -making in Concord and fol-
lowed the British down from there on the 19th of April,
till he reached the burning ruins of his mother's house
and shop, and with tears in his eyes declared he could go
no farther. He subsequently had a shop across the road,

136 CLOCK-MAKING IN LEXINGTON.

nearly opposite his brother Nathaniel's shop, where he
made the tall cases of the clocks and all the coffins used in
town ; and there are many pieces of furniture now in Lex-
ington which figured in the wedding outfits of that period.

Some of the clock dials were imported ; but we have
sufficient proof that the elder Nathaniel, at least, cut the
dials himself. One of his descendants, who was born and
lived on the site of John's shop, tells me she well remem-
bers when a child playing with cogwheels and a brass dial.
In digging about the place where the shop stood, the models
for casting cogwheels and the crucibles for melting the
brass have recently been found. A pattern on which was
marked the different sizes of cogwheels which Nathaniel
used has been in an attic within the remembrance of the
descendant before mentioned, now living; and for further
proof that the works were made by the Mullikens, a jeweler
in Fall River has recently taken to pieces one of their clocks
and finds the works were all made by hand. Those clocks,
the dials of which are ornamented by moons and maps, were
made later than the Mulliken clocks.

I have been told by a clock-maker in Boston, of many
years' experience, that it was the custom in those early days
to place the name of the owner of the clock on the dial as
often as that of the maker, making it difficult to decide by
whom the clock was made, and the date was rarely given.
Many clocks first set running one hundred and fifty years
ago are now in good condition. In the house of my great-
grandfather, Daniel Harrington, then standing back of the
common on what is now Elm Avenue, a Mulliken clock,
made in 1772, ticked out the momentous hours on the morn-
ing of April 19, 1775, while my ancestors stood on the green
facing the enemy. It has never been out of the family
and is now in Wheeling, W. Va., in first-rate condition.

CLOCK-MAKING IN LEXINGTON. 137

Could the old clocks speak in any but the language of
Time, what interesting history they would unfold ! Those
of you who were fortunate enough to grow up in a home
with one of them know how much it seemed like a living
member of the family. Fashion set them one side, till the
furore for all ancient furniture put a sudden value upon
them. When they were made their price was about forty
dollars ; now the price often is above one hundred.

For the few facts I have been able to gather regarding
the clock business in Lexington, I am indebted to Mr.
Abbott Mulliken and to Mrs. Lydia Bacon, both living de-
scendants of the clock-makers. The next I can learn of
clock-making in Lexington is that in 1831 Chittenden and
Burr started the business in the second story of the ell
of the Jonathan Harrington revolutionary house, corner
of Bedford Street and Elm Avenue, and carried on the
business about five years. These clocks were all of wood,
both works and cases, and were not tall clocks, but were hung
on the wall. Mr. Chittendon bought the house of Mr.
John Augustus, the philanthropist, who had used it for a
shoeshop, but failed to succeed. This clock-making was
very profitable, and the houses on the opposite side of Bed-
ford Road, just above the old Normal School building (then
the Academy), were used for business or for boarding the
workmen employed. The firm afterward had a shop in the
rear of the houses on Massachusetts Avenue, nearly oppo-
site the railroad station. Miss Sarah Studley and Miss
Louise Muzzey did most of the glueing and bronzing of
these clocks, which were peddled along the road. Chitten-
don tried to buy land near the entrance of Bloomfield Street,
not far from where the Mulliken clocks were made, but an
agreement as to price could not be reached and he aban-
doned the project. Mr. Burr afterwards moved to Chicago.
The business finally died out.

HOW THE HANCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE WAS
SAVED.*

At the annual meeting of the Lexington Historical So-
ciety held Mar. lo, 1896, it was reported by a member that
the old parsonage known as the Hancock-Clarke house was
soon to be torn down, the proprietor having decided that it
was no longer fit for occupancy and that she would make
no repairs on it. After some discussion, a committee
consisting of James P. Munroe, Hon. A. E. Scott, Rev. C. A.
Staples, Mr. George O. Whiting and Mr. George O. Smith
was appointed to see what could be done to prevent its
demolition and save it for its historical associations and the
honor of Lexington. On consultation with the owner, it
was found impossible to save it on the spot where it stood,
though a large sum was proposed for the house and a hun-
dred feet square of ground whereon it stood. No money
could buy it to have it remain there ; it must be removed or
destroyed ; and it was learned that steps had already been
taken to have it torn down. In this critical state of the
matter, a member of the committee took the responsibility
of buying the house and agreeing to move it off within sixty
days, paying therefor the sum of $150. This action was
reported to the Society at a special meeting held Oct. 24,
1896, and it was voted that the house should be retained on
Hancock Street, that a subscription should be opened then

*This interesting account of the preservation of the Hancock-Clarke House gives
no hint of the fact that its modest author, Rev. C. A. Staples, was the prime mover in
the enterprise and has been the most active worker ever since. It was he who nego-
tiated for the house and advanced the money for its purchase and removal ; and
through his influence a considerable part of the sum needed to save and restore the
building was secured. — James P. Munroe.

SAVING HANCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE. 139

and there for the purchase of a new site and the removal
of the house, and that a committee of fifteen ladies be ap-
pointed to canvass the town for the raising of funds for
these objects ; and the following ladies were appointed,
viz.: Mrs. J. H. Willard, Miss Miriam Garfield, Miss
Emma O. Nichols, Mrs. Emma F. Goodwin, Mrs. H. A.
C. Woodward, Mrs. Louise M. Peaslee, Mrs. Irving P. Fox,
Mrs. James P. Munroe, Miss Elizabeth Harrington, Miss
Rose B. Morse, Miss M. Alice Munroe, Miss Gertrude Pierce,
Miss Alice M. Hunt, Miss Helen E. Griffiths, Mrs. F. C.
Childs.

At this juncture, Mr. George Muzzey, owning the Kendall
estate on the opposite side of the street, generously offered
to divide it and sell seventy-five feet front for a new site, if
the purchaser would grant the right of free entrance to the
remainder. This was finally accepted by the purchaser of
the old house, who paid ;^ 1,500 for the ground. Then fol-
lowed the making of a new cellar and the removal to the
new location, the reconstruction of the chimneys, re-shin-
gling, painting and repairing of the venerable mansion,
placing it in a fairly sound condition from cellar to garret.
It was then turned over to the Society at the original cost
of the house, ground, removal and repairs, which, including
all expenses incurred, amounted to $3,107.42. In the mean
time, the committee of ladies having in charge the collection
of funds had faithfully performed their work, going from
house to house throughout the town and receiving contri-
butions from a few cents to a hundred dollars, from each
person. Mrs. Edith C. Childs, acting as chairman of the
committee, paid in the sum of $1,343, and other contribu-
tions from the town increased this amount to $1,545.
Eleven patriotic societies of Massachusetts donated $1,040,
and friends in other places, old residents of Lexington or

140 SAVING HANCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE.

their descendants, gave $740, of which one family, great-
grandchildren of Rev. Jonas Clarke, gave $400, making a
total altogether of $3,325 contributed to save this historic
house, and leaving a balance of $221 in the treasury. This,
with some additional funds, was used for furnishing the
house. In raising the money for the first expenditure, two
ladies contended for the honor of giving the original cost,
— Miss Alice B. Cary, in memory of her mother who, forty
years before, had wished to buy the place and present it to
the town, offering to give $1,000 for that object ; and Mrs.
CM. Green of Boston, who claimed the honor as a great-
granddaughter of Parson Clarke. She was permitted the
pleasure and satisfaction of making the gift, and Miss
Cary was allowed the privilege also of commemorating her
mother's generous offer by a similar gift.

After the removal of the house and the completion of
necessary repairs, on Oct. 12, 1897, the first regular meet-
ing of the Society was held at the house ; reports were
made by various committees regarding the accomplishment
of the work, and a general jubilation took place over the
fact that this precious relic of the opening scenes of the
great war for independence had been saved from destruc-
tion, and was the property of the Lexington Historical
Society, free of all encumbrance. A committee was ap-
pointed consisting of Mr. Charles A. Wellington, Mrs. A.
S. Parsons, Miss M. Alice Munroe, Rev. C. A. Staples and
Mr. Charles B. Davis, to have charge of furnishing the
house and of transferring the relics belonging to the
Society from the Town Hall to this place. It was voted
that the names of all persons who have contributed to
the fund for the preservation of the Hancock-Clarke
house, together with those of the committee that canvassed
the town, be preserved in a permanent form in the house, a

SAVING HANCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE. 141

vote which has not been executed unto this day, but should
be at once before more of the names are lost or forgotten.
Many improvements have been made in the house since its
occupancy by the Society, involving the expenditure of
twelve or fifteen hundred dollars. These include the build-
ing of the small addition and the putting in of a large fire-
proof safe, concreting the cellar and placing iron posts
under the house, electric lighting, a new furnace and
provision for extinguishing fires, making altogether an
expenditure for the entire property of $4,500, and putting
it in safe and sound condition throughout, — a home of the
Society of which we may well be proud.

The house was not provided with a regular attendant and
caretaker until the summer of the following year, and the
record of visitors, and contributions and sales, did not begin
until June, 1898. Since then it has been kept continuously
to the present time, and that we may see what the steady
growth of interest on the part of the public has been in this

historic house,

I quote

the

following

statistics

from the

record :

Number of
Visitors.

Contributions
and Sales.

From June i

1898 to Dec.

31,

1899

4,829

$ 355

" Jan. I,

1900 "

ii

1900

11,838

560

(( ((

1901 "

ii

1901

12,950

642

(( <(

1902 "

<<

1902

14,282

824

(( <<

1903 "

<(

1903

20,235

1,038

64,134 ^3,419

The Society is to be congratulated upon having rescued
this priceless relic of two centuries ago from destruction,
and upon receiving so emphatic an endorsement from the
public of the wisdom of their action.

THE MUNROE TAVERN.

Written by Albert W. Bryant in 1902 and read by Dr.
F. S. Piper, October ii, 1904.

It would be difficult to select a place in Lexington
embracing more notable events of the past than are con-
nected with the historic " Munroe Tavern, " surrounded
as it is by many reminiscences, each one of sufficient merit
to make a landmark of distinction. It is in this belief that
I am influenced to record a few thoughts in relation to its
past history, especially as it was the birthplace of Hiram
Lodge, and its home for the first twenty-five years of its
existence.

The Munroe Tavern property was a portion of what was
called the " Pelham Farm," which was sold to John Poulter
in 1693 ; it was the southeast corner of the Poulter land.
In 1697, Ebenezer Nutting sells to Isaac Johnson twenty
acres of land, with a small dwelling-house and shop. In
1699, Isaac Johnson sells to John Comee land and a small
dwelling on it ; Comee married Martha Munroe, daughter
of the first Munroe that settled in Lexington. In 1719,
John and Martha Comee convey thirty acres of land to
their son, David Comee, and the south end of the Merriam
House, being all the old end, with the cellar, privilege of
woodyard, and water from the well, and also land to build
an addition to his father's barn. John Comee in a paper in
the Essex Registry, describes himself as " inn keeper " ;
after he built the addition to the mansion house he prob-
ably kept a public house. In 1738, David Comee conveyed
the buildings and twenty-six acres of land to John Overing
of Lexington. In 1747, John Overing sold to John Buck-
man the Merriam House and twenty acres of land. John

THE MUNROE TAVERN. 143

Buckman died in 1763. His son John married, in 1768,
Ruth Stone, daughter of Samuel Stone, who owned, at
that time, what we call the Buckman Tavern (which is now
the Stetson estate near the common).

John lived at what afterwards became the Munroe
Tavern. He was a cabinet-maker, haberdasher, coffiner,
cooper ; he also had a potash house, and made potash on
the premises in partnership with Edmund Munroe, who
boarded with him after he married in 1768 ; they were in
the potash business together and had a copper boiler. In
1770, John Buckman, cabinet-maker, conveyed to William
Munroe, cooper, a mansion house, barn, workhouse, three-
fourths of a potash house with works belonging to it, and
twenty-six acres of land. Munroe had made improvements
on the house at the time he purchased it. It was in 1770
that this property passed into the hands of William Mun-
roe, and now belongs to his grandson.

When noting the characteristics of individuals of promi-
nence, there is generally a desire to know something of
their ancestry. As I intend to say a few words about Col.
William Munroe, the first Master of Hiram Lodge, I will
briefly allude to some of his progenitors. William Munroe,
the ancestor of all the Munroes of Lexington, was born in
Scotland in 1625 and came to this country in 1652. The
first record of him is in 1657, when he was fined for not
having rings in the noses of his swine. Tradition asserts
that, taken as a prisoner of war in Scotland, he was sold to
servitude to pay the expenses of his immigration, as was a
custom in those times, and the claim was purchased by a
Mr. Whittemore, or Winship, living near the line of what is
now Lexington and Arlington. His term of service must
have been short, for he was his own man in 1657.

He settled at Cambridge Farms about 1660, in the north-

144 THE MUNROE TA VERN.

easterly part of the town, his house being near what is now
the Woburn line, and several of his sons lived with him, or
not far from him. It was said that his house resembled a
rope walk, so many additions having been made to accom-
modate his sons as they settled in life, adopting a Scottish
custom. He, in a measure, confined the Munroes together,
giving the name to the locality which has ever been re-
tained,— the "Scotland District."

Though he came to this country under unfavorable cir-
cumstances and set up for himself rather late in life, it
appears that he was quite successful in worldly affairs, and
had a large and prosperous family. He was interested in
church and town affairs and contributed so liberally that
his generosity was publicly acknowledged. He was a man
of enterprise and character, which was made apparent by
the offices of honor and responsibility conferred on him.
He was forty years of age when he married, yet he reared
a family of thirteen children. He was married three times,
and had four children by his first wife, and nine by his
second. He died in 171 7, at the age of ninety-two. His
inventory (against which there was no objection) at his death
gave the following personal property to his wife : one bed
and bolster ; one pillow ; one chest ; one warming-pan ; one
pair of tongs, and one pewter platter.

William, son of the first William, was born in 1669, and
was married twice, having seven children by his first wife
and two by his second. He held many offices and was
prominent in church and military affairs.

William, the third, was born in 1703, and died in 1747.
He was on a committee to enlarge the burial ground, and
was the first one buried in it. He left six children, the
fourth child, William, the subject of this sketch, being born
in 1742. He was married twice, and had six children by
his first wife. He died in 1827.

THE M UN ROE TAVERN. 145

My recollections of him extend from 1822 to 1827, the
time of his death. It was my duty, when a lad, to drive
my father's cows to pasture during the summer season,
and in doing this I passed* his house twice each day. It
was his custom in pleasant weather to walk to the old tav-
ern, then in charge of his son Jonas, his residence being
about an eighth of a mile distant. The frequency of meet-
ing him, and his appearance, enable me to recall to mind
some of his peculiarities. He was short in stature, thick-
set, broad-shouldered, with a very short neck. His steps
were short and quick for a person of his age. He invari-
ably wore a long-bodied coat and a broad-brimmed hat, with
a staff in hand nearly as long as his height, with his hand
placed about a third from the top. He was affable, social,
with a disposition ever ready to enjoy a joke.

No citizens of Lexington have been more honored and
respected than the Munroes ; for their energy, their enter-
prise, and especially their interest in military affairs. They
were quite prolific. The four families, of which an abstract
is here given, had thirty-two children. About forty years
since they began to disappear, so that at the present time
there are only three families in town by that name, and
these three families have but ten members.

Without the slightest desire of detracting from the brav-
ery or patriotism of those Minute Men, who took part on
the 19th of April, 1775, in resisting a foreign foe, unques-
tionably no one was more distinguished in rendering ser-
vice than Col. William Munroe, the Orderly Sergeant of
the Company of Minute Men. To substantiate this asser-
tion, I herewith restate what has been often told of his
judgment, as seen on the i8th and 19th of April, 1775,
which is a correct representation of his character :

" When a man was returning from market, late in the

'46 THE M UN ROE TA VERN.

afternoon on the i8th of April, 1775, he called at the Mun-
roe Tavern and informed Munroe that he had passed sev-
eral British officers who were on their way to Lexington,
and as the wind blew their overcoats open he saw that
they were armed. Munroe, conceiving their purpose, or
design, as quickly as possible gave the alarm (which was
agreed upon) for the Minute Men to assemble on the Com-
mon. He selected eight men, armed, and placed them as
guard around the house of Mr. Clark for the night, and
remained with them. As the British officers had passed
through town towards Concord, Munroe dispatched several
men to follow them, to ascertain their whereabouts, and
watch their movements. They were so unfortunate as to
be captured when about midway between Concord and
Lexington.

"It is reported that the evening of the i8th of April being
chilly, those Minute Men who resided in the vicinity went
home ; others found accommodations at the Buckman Tav-
ern. About midnight Revere appeared at Clark's house and
requested an interview with Hancock and Adams ; Munroe
informed him that it was late when the family retired and
they did not wish to be disturbed. Revere insisted, as his
business with them was of that importance that it was
imperative that he should at once see them, and he immedi-
ately rapped on the door. Mr. Clark hearing the rap at
the door, raised a window and inquired what was desired.
Revere informed him that he had some special information
for Hancock and Adams. Hancock, hearing the conversa-
tion, and recognizing Revere's voice, said, ' Come in.'

'* Munroe, upon hearing from Revere that the British
troops were probably on their way to Lexington, sent at
once a messenger towards Boston, who was to report as
soon as possible. As time passed and the messenger did

THE M UN ROE TA VERN. 147

not return, the second one was sent. After waiting anx-
iously a reasonable time the third was sent on the same
errand. The desire to know what had become of the three
men was so intense that the fourth started on the same
mission, which proved successful in solving the problem
why the others did not return.

" As a precaution to conceal their movements, two sol-
diers were sent some distance in advance of the body of
troops ; these two soldiers would permit anyone to pass
them, then capture such as passed, so that those sent to
obtain information were easily taken. The horse of the
fourth one seeing the two soldiers sitting beside the road,
became frightened, and refused to proceed ; while urging
the horse, the rider caught a glimpse of the main body of
troops, and at once started back, with all speed possible, to
give the information anxiously desired.

" Munroe, upon receiving the fact of their approach,
hastily summoned the company of Minute Men, and
formed them in line, as they stood, when the British troops
appeared before them."

It is evident that Munroe was engaged throughout the
day, and it is presumed that after the skirmish in the morn-
ing he followed on towards Concord and, in the retreat in
the afternoon, joined with others in the pursuit. Fortu-
nate it was for him that he was not at home when the
troops ransacked his house and killed John Raymond, who
was in his employ, and had charge of the premises in his
absence.

When Munroe came in possession of the tavern property
in 1770, the additions which had previously been made
gave the house probably the appearance it has at present.
When the hall was added, the original looks were altered,
and when the hall was subsequently removed, the house
was restored to its former appearance.

148 THE MUNROE TA VERN.

There seems to be no definite knowledge whether the
hall was built for the special use of Hiram Lodge or for
general purposes. There is no exact date when it was added
to the main building, but the supposition is that it was a
short time previous to the institution of the lodge in 1797.

My recollection of it dates back to my boyhood days
when, with other boys, it was used for our playground,
and oftentimes some of the lodge implements were used
in our boyish games. My familiarity with it continued by
attending dancing-schools, dancing-parties, lectures and
exhibitions, until it was removed about 1850.

The hall was sixty feet in length and twenty feet in
width. On the east end the Master's chair was placed up-
on a platform six feet wide, raised eighteen inches above
the floor, and reached by three steps. A board, of proper
width for seating purposes, uncushioned, was permanently
fastened to the east, west and north sides of the room, by
wooden brackets. The entrance to the hall was about
twenty feet from the east end, and on the south side of the
room. A few feet from the entrance, towards the west, a
large, open fireplace furnished heat. On the south side,
near the west end, an alcove, or recess, about six feet wide,
was reserved for storing settees, desks, and what was not
needed for the purpose for which the hall was to be used.
For lighting purposes tallow candles were used. They
were placed beside each window, in what was called a
" candle-holder." This was made from a strip of tin fifteen
inches in length and four inches wide. About four inches
of one end was bent at a right angle, with a socket to hold
the candle upright. This was suspended by a nail driven
in the window casement ; a pair of candle snuffers per-
fected the lighting appliances. The carpet for the hall was
the soft side of a pine board.

THE MUNROE TAVERN. 149

The hall was in common use for public purposes, — singing
and dancing schools, lectures, exhibitions and social danc-
ing-parties.

My earliest thought of any event connected with Free-
masonary took place about eighty years ago, when a cele-
bration on the 24th of June was held under the auspices of
Hiram Lodge, having been at that time nearly, if not quite,
twenty-five years in existence. The occasion must have
been considered of more than ordinary importance, by the
particular and elaborate arrangements that were made. I
retain no remembrance of the exercises on that day, except
the preparation for the dinner. A canvas tent, a hundred
feet or more in length, and of sufficient width for three
tables that would accommodate two hundred or more per-
sons, for whom provisions were prepared, was erected in
the rear of the house.

Jonas Munroe, who was known as "Uncle Jonas," was
the landlord at that time ; his success in providing for the
banquet surpassed that which had hitherto been attempted.
The reason that I have so clear a recollection of this part
of the celebration, is, at that time it was customary to place
the food upon the table before the company were seated ;
afterwards each one helping himself as he chose. Several
young lads, including myself, watched with much earnest-
ness the placing of the food upon the tables, and speculated
if we should be lucky enough to get a piece of pie, a slice of
plum pudding, or a wing or leg from one of those chickens.
But the old maxim that there is many " a slip between the
cup and the lip" was here fully verified. As the company
were on the point of being seated at the tables a terrific
shower of rain and wind suddenly burst forth, and with
such violence that all upon the tables was either swept to
the ground or spoiled in the dishes in which it was placed

150 THE MUNROE TAVERN.

The canvas covering the tent gave so Httle protection that
the repast was completely ruined. Probably there were
none more keenly disappointed than the boys, as I know
from experience, as we expected our hopes were about to
be realized.

After the Anti-Masonic excitement had subsided and
existed only in memory, the revival of the lodge began to
be considered. The causes or necessity for its removal to
West Cambridge were given me from some of the members
at the time. In the first place, Lexington had been a hot-
bed in the Anti-Masonic Crusade, and the hatred had been
so intense it was feared that there might be influences yet
existing that would prevent applications for membership.
Also, the Lexington members were so advanced in years
that not much assistance in the future could be expected
from them. The Cambridge members being younger
and willing, if the lodge was transferred to that town,
to assume all responsibilities in furnishing the needed
requirements, the prospect for accessions for membership
was far more assuring.

The strongest argument raised in favor of its removal,
and one that could not be controverted, was the old hall.
It was poorly arranged, inconvenient, without ante-rooms,
and the only entrance was through a sleeping-room. As
these obstacles must be remedied, no possible way could be
devised.

The location of the Munroe Inn, with its large farm, hap-
pened to be particularly favorable for the requirements of
the kind of patronage it was receiving at that time ; and
was so large and lucrative that to reinstate the lodge in
the old hall would entail a loss so great to Munroe, by cur-
tailing his already insufficient room, that the expense would
exceed the means of the lodge to meet.

THE MUNROE TAVERN. 1 51

Before the advent of railroads, a large portion of the
cattle and sheep for the supply of the Brighton market was
received mainly from Vermont, New Hampshire and Can-
ada, the animals being driven over the roads in large
droves. To make sure of suitable accommodations for the
cattle, it was necessary that arrangements be secured in
advance, and at such distances as could be reached after
each day's drive.

Munroe having a large farm, and it being the last stop-
ping-place before reaching Brighton, the drovers would
arrange to reach this place on Saturday and remain until
Monday, in order to give the cattle rest and improve their
appearance before entering the market. The average cost
of feeding the cattle from Saturday to Monday was twenty-
five cents per head. It was no unusual occurrence to
provide for several hundred cattle for several weeks in
succession. Sheep in droves of four or five hundred, and
sometimes more, had to be cared for in enclosures as a pro-
tection from dogs. The expense of keeping sheep was
from five to ten cents each. The revenue at some por-
tions of the year from this source would exceed a hundred
dollars per week.

Another source of income for the public houses in town,
before the railroads, was the heavy teaming from New
Hampshire, Vermont and other places, to and from Boston ;
some of the teams followed nearly schedule time. Mun-
roe's place was again found especially convenient for this
sort of traffic, as they could start from there in the morn-
ing, drive to Boston, dispose of their freight and return
before night. This custom from teaming made it necessary
frequently to use the hall as a sleeping-room, and often-
times every space available was used for that purpose. It
was a common occurrence to stable a hundred horses per

152 THE MUNROE TAVERN.

night. Incomes from other sources, besides those named,
of more or less importance, were received. After mature
deUberation it was deemed impracticable to attempt to
reinstate the lodge in the old hall.

At the time to which I am referring, there were eleven
public houses in Lexington ; all were receiving patronage
according to their accommodations ; three of this number
had halls for public use. Six had no land in connection
except sufficient for dooryard purposes.

The Munroe farm contained an area of land in extent as
large as that of all the other public houses combined.
When the Lowell & Fitchburg Railroad commenced run-
ning their cars, the stage-coaches soon disappeared, and a
reduction in cost of transportation compelled the teaming
to be withdrawn. Soon after the diversion of the travel,
one after another of the public houses began to close their
doors to the public.

Of the eleven houses, two were burned, three were
removed, and six now remain and are occupied as private
dwellings. The Munroe tavern was probably the first pub-
lic house opened in Lexington, as there is proof that it
existed in 1719, and for fifty-eight years after that time it
had several different owners who, in connection with keep-
ing a public house, were engaged in mechanical business.
The buildings must have been inadequate for public accom-
modation, as the house in 1719 was a low-posted, one-story
building, and before coming into the possession of William
Munroe in 1770 had received several additions.

William Munroe kept the tavern from 1770 to 181 5,
(forty-five years.) His son Jonas then became the pro-
prietor for thirty-five years. It was, therefore, open to the
public 138 years.

As this house was the first one to open its doors for pub-

THE MUNROE TAVERN. 153

lie accommodation in town, and the last of the eleven before-
mentioned to close them, it is very natural to inquire what
prolonged its existence.

Tradition has handed down the report that during the
revolutionary struggle, and for several decades afterwards,
when the facilities for communication were confined to the
mails, and then only received at intervals, the anxiety to
obtain the latest information was at times so intense as to
be almost unendurable. As a means of receiving as much
as possible of the latest news, it became the custom of the
male portion of the citizens to meet on evenings at such
places as were most convenient, where the thoughts and
opinions entertained could be interchanged, and subjects of
interest discussed. Col. William Munroe, being a man
experienced in military affairs, also prominent in social and
trustworthy positions, made his counsel and opinions re-
spected. As his house was conveniently situated, what was
at first meeting casually, soon became a common occurrence.

General Washington, when on his visit to Lexington in
1789, was entertained here, which adds another feature of
interest to visitors. The locating of Hiram Lodge at the
early date of 1797, and its remaining here for twenty-five
years, gave it notoriety in a different direction. It can,
however, be safely assured, that the affable manner and
social disposition of Col. William Munroe, who also seemed
to possess an intuitive perception that enabled him to
anticipate the wishes of his patrons, were qualifications that
made him an ideal landlord. His son, who became his suc-
cessor as innholder, inherited to a certain degree the traits
of his father. The domestic arrangements, free from osten-
tatious display, the hospitality, and courteous attention,
were recognized by the community, as was seen by a contin-
uance of patronage until death removed the proprietor.

154 THE MUNROE TAVERN.

A singular custom, that was followed for many years,
served to extend the celebrity of this old "Wayside Inn,"
and the success that William Munroe and his son attained
in the preparation of a beverage called "flip " proved to be
a profitable factor towards replenishing their exchequer.
It was usually made in what was known as a " quart
mug." Its component parts were West India rum, sugar,
and hop beer ; the rum and sugar were selected by exact
measurement ; then the mug was filled nearly full with
beer ; the main and absolutely necessary part was given
with the loggerhead. This article was of iron, six inches in
length and an inch in diameter, tapered at the ends, resem-
bling a cone in shape ; a piece of iron, about two feet in
length and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, welded to
the large piece, served for the handle ; the large end, after
being heated by placing it in the fire, was dipped in water
to remove the ashes, then placed quickly in the mug, and
almost immediately a white foam would appear ; also a
pleasant aroma would greet the senses. This preparation
was pleasant to the taste but seductive in effect, especially
to a novice in its use, as he would find it more comfortable
to be seated than to stand. The demand for this drink in
the winter months was so urgent that, to avoid delay, quan-
tities were constantly prepared, with the exception of using
the loggerhead, and several of these were kept constantly
in the fire.

If there is a spot on this fair land worthy to be retained,
and kept in remembrance for what has transpired within its
borders, there can be none more entitled to preservation as
a historical landmark than the ancient Munroe House.

CHARLES A. WELLINGTON.
Extracts from Minutes, Meeting February 12, 1901.

Remarks of Rev. C. A. Staples, President of the
Society. — Since the last meeting of the Society one of our
active and esteemed members has passed away. I refer to
Mr. Charles A. Wellington, one of the original members.
He was heartily interested in the formation of the Society,
constantly attended its meetings, served on many important
committees, and gave much time and thought to the pro-
motion of its objects. It seems peculiarly fitting that we
should take some action this evening in recognition of our
indebtedness for his valuable counsel and unstinted labors
in behalf of the Lexington Historical Society, and also of
his unselfish spirit and worthy character. Accordingly I
have asked his intimate friend, Hon. A. E. Scott, to pre-
pare a suitable expression of our appreciation of his devoted
service and of his useful life.

Remarks of Hon. A. E. Scott. — The Lexington His-
torical Society mourns the loss of one of its most valued
members.

Mr. Charles A. Wellington, who has been connected
with our Society since its inception and closely identified
with its work, has passed on, leaving a void not only in our
organization, but in the town, in our social life and in the
home, which it is impossible to fill.

Mr. Wellington passed his whole life in our midst. He
was descended from an ancestry that settled in Lexington
before its incorporation, participants in the struggle for
independence and always prominent in municipal affairs.

Although there was allotted to him a goodly number of

156 CHARLES A. WELLINGTON.

years, with so much of sturdiness and sobriety behind him
through so many generations of hardy men added to his
own blameless character, it seems to us he might have been
spared even through another generation had it not been for
the gradual wear and waste of his ever busy life, — his
ceaseless activity from early morning often to late night
through every day of every year.

His life was one of singular purity. The Golden Rule
was the creed that guided him in his dealings with his
fellow-men, and with a heart full of true charity he was
ever thoughtful of others, forgetful of self.

He always seemed happiest when he was doing some-
thing for others or for the public good. He put his whole
soul into such work, and we felt safe when he accepted any
public responsibility.

He was one of the few men we are always glad to meet.
Although often struggling with life's discouragements, he
kept his own trials in the background, was ever cheerful
in his greetings, always the welcome guest.

He was a man of varied talents, with a capacity for the
practical application of his powers seldom equaled.

He was a skilled mechanic, equally at home with the
coarser implements of the farm, the intricate machines of
the workshop, or the delicate watch.

He had a keen artistic sense, — he had more than this, he
was the ideal artist.

His eye was true, his hand was facile. In his hand the
graver's chisel wrought exquisite forms, the block of wood
became a work of art, the rough quartz an amethyst in
beautiful setting. He was equally at home in the office of
the architect, in the workshop of the sculptor and in the
studio of the painter.

He quickly grasped what was needed for any particular

CHARLES A. WELLINGTON. 1 57

object, and he was equally quick in the execution of the
work. From a piece of sash or a remnant of a door or
shutter, or a fragment of a tile, the ancient house is repro-
duced with historic accuracy and furnished with many
appropriate relics. From a bit of old paper found upon its
walls is evolved with wonderful patience the intricate pat-
tern a century old.

Under his skillful guidance the picture of the artist is
perfected in historic detail, the rough boulders of the field
become the artistic fountain, — his own fitting monument,
— the hillside glows with its myriad blossoms, the home is
replete with utility and beauty.

He was a true naturalist. He loved the fields and the
forests, the green meadow with its wealth of flowers, the
rugged mountain-side with its mineral treasures. With
remarkable keenness of vision he was always the first to
discover the rare fern or' flower, the crystal or the beryl,
the nest of the bird or the animal's track. To him the fox
or the deer was a thing to be studied not killed, the crawl-
ing reptile or insect was to be avoided not trodden under
foot, the moss or the lichen was to be admired and not
destroyed.

He was a skilled woodsman, quick to act in emergencies,
always doing the right thing at the right time. No preci-
pice so steep but he would find a way to surmount it, — no
stream so rapid but he would find a way to cross it, — no
storm so sudden or so violent but he would find or con-
struct a shelter,— no night in the forest so dark without
the keenest delight by the blazing campfire. A privilege
to be always remembered among one's heart treasures to
have been with such a man in a forest exploration or on a
mountain climb.

His last conscious days were characteristic of his whole

1 5 8 CHA RLES A. WELLING TON.

life. He was cheerful and thoughtful, always planning the
work there was for him to do and eagerly anticipating the
return of health that he might be about it.

Time hastens to dull the memory of the loss of such a
man to the community, but the loss to the home must
continue to the end, the bitterness of which can only be
softened by fond memories of a life full to overflowing
with kindness, brilliancy, activity, charity and brotherly
love.

His innate modesty kept him from a prominence which
his abilities could have commanded, and measured by the
standard which the world is prone to set up he was not a
great man, but measured by rules of right living, of right
acting and of purity of thought, he was one of Nature's
noblemen None knew him but to respect him. None
knew him intimately but to love him.

Remarks of Mr. George O. Smith. — I rise to move the
adoption of the resolutions offered. From his boyhood I
have known Charles Wellington and known him as honest,
straightforward, unselfish — as boy and man.

His reserve force and will power were almost miraculous
in the accomplishment of whatever he undertook, making
him persistent where others would have faltered. An unaf-
fected modesty in regard to his great abilities was a promi-
nent trait in his character.

By cultivation of mind, and the training of his deft
fingers in his earlier calling, he exemplified the untruth
of the old saying, " knowing all trades and good at none ;"
for whether at the jeweler's bench or with the sledge-
hammer at the anvil, with the mason's trowel, the plane of
the carpenter, the soldering-iron of the plumber or the tin-
smith, the tools of the architect, or the pencil or brush of
the artist, whatever work left his skillful hands was finished

CHARLES A. WELLINGTON. 1 59

and complete. And not alone was he skillful in mechanic
arts. As has been said of another,

" Great Nature was his Deity:
In Virtue's temple, firm, unswerved,
This priest of reason stood and served
The broad Church of Humanity."

His love of Nature in her differing phases — for rocks
and field and woods — was characteristic. He knew and
loved the birds and trees, and plants and flowers. Whether
for his friends personally or for the public good, no call
upon his time and abilities was unanswered, if it were pos-
sible for him to grant his services.

On committees of the town and in various ways he has
done good and noble work. And not alone in our own
town. In the founding of mechanic schools and schools
for carving, by Mrs. Hemenway and others, for the bene-
fit of the poorer classes in Boston, his services were availed
of, and in our own town in the schools and the several
societies beside our own, he has been a willing and untiring
worker.

Our Society owes him a lasting debt of gratitude for
efforts and work which no other member could have accom-
plished, in the restoration of the Hancock-Clarke house
and in other ways, and as a fellow-member he will be sadly
missed.

As tree warden of the town, an office but recently
created, we had looked forward to see great benefit from
his work and interest in this direction, and here again it
will be difficult to fill his place.

Remarks of Mr. James P. Munroe. — I beg to second
the resolutions, not because I can say anything which will
add in the least to the admiration and respect felt by every
one of us for the character of Mr. Charles Wellington, but

l60 CHARLES A. WELLINGTON.

because it seems to me one of the important duties of such
a society as this to honor and to bear conspicuous witness
to the Uves of such citizens as he. And it is especially
appropriate in this instance because to Mr. Wellington in
a very unusual measure may be applied the phrase, " a
man of antique virtues ;" for he possessed conspicuously
the virtues which we associate with the founders of this
Republic, without exhibiting any of their unpleasant auster-
ities.

Mr. Wellington was, as you know, a shy man ; but when
it was a question of doing good to this town or to any of
its citizens, or when it was a question of protecting them
from wrong, he was bold as a lion.

He was a reserved man ; but with congenial companions
few had so much to say that was worth saying and few
could say it half so well.

He was a man, in private conversation, of plain speech
and downright sentiments, uncompromising in his judg-
ments ; but this was because he was absolutely honest and
single-minded himself and could not tolerate any standard
of public and private action less high than his own. What
this town and nation need more than anything else is a
citizenship more largely made up of such men as Charles
A. Wellington.

Remarks of Mr. Albert S. Parsons. — Mr. President :
It seems hardly safe for me to attempt to say anything
after the admirable resolutions which have been offered by
Mr. Scott and the appreciative and fitting words which
have been said by Mr. Smith and Mr. Munroe. I cannot
expect to add anything to the force of these expressions,
but I cannot forbear a word of acknowledgment of the
respect, esteem and affection which I felt for Mr. Welling-
ton. It was a blessed privilege to have known him. He

CHARLES A. WELLINGTON. l6l

was the most unselfish man I ever knew. All things con-
sidered, I think he was the best man I ever knew. Utterly
thoughtless of himself when any opportunity came to serve
the town, this society, or any other organization which he
felt was working for worthy ends ; untiring and self-sacri-
ficing when any friend could be aided ; full of zeal for all
good works, but with none of the jealousies, or bitterness
of feeling, too common with reformers ; with only the
kindest feelings for every human being and for the animal
creation as well ; loving Nature in all her aspects and living
as closely to her as possible ; his life was an example for us
all, and I am glad that our tribute to its value is to be put
on record.

I hope it can be published in our local papers and widely
circulated. Where can we find a nobler example to hold
up to our youth } Let no effort be spared to bring home
to every young person in Lexington the lesson of his life,
— that of devotion to high ideals, to the public good, to
adding what one man could to the beauty and the happi-
ness of the world, without a thought of personal gain, of
fame, or even of recognition. His excessive modesty and
desire to do his work unofficially and unheralded (his only
fault) make it the more necessary that we who knew the
worth of the man and the great service he was constantly
conferring upon the community should bear testimony to
the character and the usefulness of his unselfish life.

Permit me a word as to personal knowledge of his abili-
ties in a business way. About a year ago, being sud-
denly called upon to help save from total wreckage a bank-
rupt corporation, I asked Mr. Wellington if he would act
as a director, — a favor which it troubles my conscience to
have asked, for every added duty may have hastened this
untimely end. His zeal, industry and interest could not

l62 CHARLES A. WELLINGTON.

have been greater had his own fortune been at stake. I
want to say that if our friend has failed to attain special
success in business, I am convinced that it is not from
lack of unusual abilities, but because his talents in that
direction have been at the service of others, rather than
centered upon his own affairs. Had he been so constituted
that he could have concentrated the good judgment, the
activity and the enterprise which he possessed upon the
building up of wealth for himself, he might have won what
the world is apt to consider the sole success ; but here,
too, is not a life lived for others rather than for self the
example young people need in this age of commercialism
and greed .?

This society has benefited largely from his labors. Let
us see to it that they fail not of recognition by this gener-
ation and that they be so recorded that future generations
shall realize their debt to this modest, faithful, generous
worker.

Further remarks by Mr. Staples. — I wish to endorse
every word that has been spoken of our friend. For nearly
twenty years now, I have known him and been associated
with him on many town and Society committees. It has
been a great pleasure to work with him for objects of
mutual interest and the public good. A more unselfish
and generous man I have never known. Always ready to
help any good cause and giving himself without stint in
efificient labors for its progress, no one gave so much
time and thought to the saving of the Hancock-Clarke
house, restoring its original adornments and making it
attractive to thousands of visitors. Some of its valuable
relics are his gifts, and the contribution box, and the show-
case containing the Governor Dudley pistols and trappings,
are fine specimens of his mechanical ingenuity and taste.

CHARLES A. WELLINGTON. 163

The Hayes Fountain, surmounted by its noble statue, is
a fitting monument to his unselfish devotion to public
duties and interests. He gave much time in superintend-
ing its construction, and to his good judgment are largely
due its beauty and effectiveness. In the last visit I paid
him just before his death, he told me what he meant to do
in the spring to improve the grounds around it and make
it a still more attractive place. This cherished purpose
he fondly dwelt upon in the long hours of pain and weari-
ness and until the end.

I would suggest that this memorial of one so respected
and beloved be printed for distribution among our members
and his many friends.

The action suggested by Mr. Staples was unanimously
approved by a rising vote.

MR. GEORGE O. SMITH.

Extracts from Minutes of Meeting, February 9, 1904.

Rev. C. A. Staples reported for the committee appointed
to take such action on the death of Mr. George O. Smith
as was thought best, as follows : At a meeting of the
Lexington Historical Society held on Tuesday evening,
February 9, 1904, the article in the will of their fellow
member, the late George O. Smith, former president and
corresponding secretary of the Society, was read, contain-
ing its munificent bequest of ten thousand dollars to the
Society for certain specific objects, and the following action
was proposed :

I St. Resolved, that w^e gratefully accept the bequest
of our late honored and beloved associate, Mr. George O.
Smith, and pledge ourselves to hold it as a sacred trust,
the income to be used in accordance with his desire and
his spirit.

2nd. Resolved, that a committee on permanent funds
consisting of three persons be appointed by the president,
who shall receive, invest and hold this bequest when avail-
able, and others for a similar object, and make a report of
the condition of the same at the annual meeting of the
Society, all expenditures from this fund to be first author-
ized by the Society.

3rd. Resolved, that we hereby wish to express and
place upon the records the high appreciation in which we
hold his bequests to the Society and to the town, and our
respect and affection for the memory of our faithful asso-
ciate, the good citizen, the kind neighbor and the generous
friend.

GEORGE O. SMITH. l6S

Extract from the Will of Mr. George O. Smith.

To the Lexington Historical Society, if in active being at my
decease, five thousand dollars, the income to be expended in historical
research for matters pertaining to the efforts of citizens of the Town of
Lexington in the Revolutionary period, for the freedom and inde-
pendence, or for the advancement and welfare of the people of the
United States of America and for the publication of the same. After
the application of the income for this purpose for fifteen years, if
thought best the income may be used for the general purposes of the
Society. Should the Society fail to accept or comply with the con-
ditions of this bequest, the amount herein named will be added to the
residue of my estate and be disposed of as hereinafter directed.

Extract from Codicil.

If my estate, after payment of debts and expenses, shall net the
sum of seventy thousand dollars, the amount of the gift to the Lex-
ington Historical Society shall be increased to ten thousand dollars
to be used as in item eleven of my said will.

A Memorial of Mr. George O. Smith.

Among the three hundred and eighty-five men and
women who have been connected with the Lexington His-
torical Society since its organization, no one was more
active in promoting its interests and more devoted in
attendance upon its meetings than the late George O.
Smith, for nearly eight years its corresponding secretary,
and its ninth president. His character as a citizen and as
a man, not less than his example as a friend and benefactor
of the Society, deserves grateful recognition from his fellow
members. The respect and affection with which he was
regarded by all associated with him make it especially fit-
ting that his memory should be honored and perpetuated
in this community, greatly to be benefitted in the future
by his wise and generous bequests.

George O. Smith, son of William L. and Hannah (Lane)

1 66 GEORGE O. SMITH.

Smith, was born in East Lexington, January 5, 1832. His
father was a native of Sterling, Mass., and his mother of
Bedford, Mass. Her father was a member of the Bedford
Company of Minute Men, took an active part in the events
of the 19th of April, 1775, and a few years since, Mr.
Smith, his grandson, placed a fitting memorial of his ser-
vice over his grave in the old cemetery at Bedford. George
was born in a humble home where rigid economy and hard
work were the discipline of the members, and the three
children early learned the lesson of self-reliance, so essen-
tial to the attainment of any high success or worthy man-
hood. The only advantages of education afforded him
were in the schools of his native village, probably much
inferior then to those of the present day. It was always
a matter of deep regret to him that he had enjoyed such
limited opportunities for intellectual culture, and that he
did not have the training in his youth of some higher insti-
tution of learning. No doubt the sense of his own defic-
iencies, and the detriment it was to his usefulness, led him
to set aside a large portion of his estate, the income to be
devoted to the higher education of young men from the
schools of this town.

Early in life Mr. Smith was thrown upon his own
resources and learned to make his own way in the world.
After various employments in which he won the reputation
of being worthy of the fullest confidence of his employers,
he began business for himself in a small way, opening a
cigar store on Hawley Street in Boston, where the remain-
ing years of his life were passed. As a business man he
was universally trusted for undeviating honesty and truth,
seeking only that success to be won in doing as he would
be done by. His word was as good as his bond. What
he told a customer could be relied upon as his honest

GEORGE O. SMITH. 1 67

belief, and what he promised to do that he did, whatever
the inconvenience or loss to himself. Justice and sincerity
in word and deed, courtesy and kindness in his intercourse
with others, fidelity in duty every day, a plain, simple-
minded, open-hearted man, making no pretension to wealth,
position or learning, content to be known for just what he
was and as he was, such was George O. Smith in his busi-
ness and social relations. And it is worthy of remark that
with none of the greed and haste for riches so common in
this age, by industry and frugality and good management,
wronging none, striving to outstrip none in the race, he
accumulated a modest fortune and left more than sixty
thousand dollars in public bequests. It shows that the
principle of the Golden Rule is not so impracticable in
business affairs as some are fond of asserting, but that a
fair degree of success is possible without resorting to mean
or crooked ways. George O. Smith was not only a man
of unimpeachable business integrity and of an honorable
success, but of broad sympathies and a generous heart.
By his cordial and kindly ways he drew to himself loving
and devoted friends wherever he was known. He inspired
a confidence and affection which made him a welcome
visitor in homes of trouble and sorrow, a trusted guardian
of the patrimony of the widow and orphan, a man whose
advice and guidance were sought by those beset with dis-
couragement or overcome by adversity. Never did he
appear happier than when rendering some service to cheer
the hard lot of a sufferer or bearing the burden of some
disheartened friend.

In the honor and welfare of Lexington he had a deep
and tender interest. Faithful to the duties of a citizen,
ready to serve the cause of good government in the town,
firm to uphold what he believed to be the principles of

1 68 GEORGE O. SMITH.

righteousness in state and nation, he was a worthy example
of the true patriot and servant of the people.

When the first movement was made to form the Lex-
ington Historical Society, Mr. Smith was among its most
earnest supporters, and during the years since its organiza-
tion there have been few meetings when he was not in
attendance and an active participant in the proceedings,
coming from his temporary home in Somerville even in the
coldest and stormiest weather. Of the four papers read
by him before the Society, it is but just to say that they
are among the most carefully prepared and interesting
given at its meetings. His style was singularly simple,
clear and direct ; he was faithful in his investigations of
historic subjects, and related only what he believed to be
reliable. It is remarkable that, having so little training
in composition at school, and in a life devoted to business
pursuits, he attained such accuracy of expression and so
large a fund of general information. As corresponding
secretary of the Society, there was always manifest a pains-
taking devotion to his duties. Whatever was given him to
do was sure to be done promptly, and he evinced a most
conscientious spirit in its minutest details.

The last years of Mr. Smith's life were passed in Somer-
ville, Mass., where he removed after the destruction of the
old paternal homestead by the widening of the street. It
was a sore experience to him that the home of his child-
hood and youth, where his parents had lived and died,
should be swept away in the ruthless march of modern
improvements, but his heart never ceased to yearn for the
spot, and thither he was wont often to pass his leisure
hours. Here he finally prepared for himself a pleasant
home in which to pass the remaining days before he was
called to join those who had gone. Mr. Smith had never

GEORGE O. SMITH. 1 69

married. For two years he had been steadily failing and
he, realized that the end was near, but there was an earnest
longing to be settled in his new house that he might die in
Lexington. Many times he was heard to express the
desire. Then he would say with Simeon of old, ** Lord
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." But it was
not to be. He made his last visit to the new house just
before his death to see that all was ready for him to keep
Thanksgiving Day there, then close at hand. But that
festival, so dear to his heart, was kept in a home where the
family circle is once more complete. After a very brief
illness he passed into the higher life on Monday morning,
November 16, 1903. Thus closed a good and noble life
which generations to come of the poor, the sick, the suffer-
ing of this town, not less than the young men and maidens,
"will rise up and call blessed."

At the conclusion of Mr. Staples' report, Mr. Robert P.
Clapp made a graceful and feeling tribute to the memory
of Mr. Smith, and moved that the memorial, as reported
by the committee, be accepted as a matter of record and
placed on file, and that it be printed in the next volume of
the Proceedings of the Society. The vote was unanimously
passed. The resolutions, as reported by the committee,
were also unanimously accepted by a rising vote.

Remarks by Mr. James P. Munroe.

(Before Bay State Historical League June 4, 1904.)

To be permitted to translate one's private admiration of
a friend into a public appreciation of him before such a gath-
ering as this is indeed a privilege. To attempt to do this
when the opportunity presents itself is a pressing duty.
Therefore I gladly accept the honor of saying to the Bay

I/O GEORGE O. SMITH.

State Historical League a few words, not of fulsome praise,
but of simple truth concerning a former President of the
Lexington Historical Society who served also as Secretary
of this League, Mr. George O. Smith.

I cannot speak of Mr. Smith with the intimacy of a con-
temporary ; for he belonged to a generation earlier than
mine. I cannot speak even with the tenderness of one
who, as child and boy, grew up at his side ; for I did not
know him intimately until, about 1890, our common inter-
est in the Lexington Historical Society drew us some-
what closely together. But it is my privilege to speak of
him as of one who for a dozen years honored me with a
friendship that was almost confidential, and for whom, as
his character unfolded itself to me, I felt an ever-deepening
affection and an ever-heightening admiration.

It is not easy to expound what we so mistakenly call the
" common " virtues, unless they take shape in some un-
common action. It is difficult to draw the portrait of a
friend the depth and breadth of whose character it has
taken years fully to appreciate. We are so accustomed to
interpret men in terms of what they did, that it is not a
simple matter to present them in terms of what they were.
As many of you know, Mr. Smith's life was quiet, his in-
terests were somewhat limited, his unusual, — indeed his
abnormal, — self-depreciation forbade his attempting work
that he might easily have done and his occupying positions
that he could successfully have filled. As is too often the
case with men who have not enjoyed a college education,
he overvalued the importance of that training and felt
himself handicapped far more than he really was. That
through this veil of self-effacement you members of the
Historical League who had not previously known him
should have perceived so clearly his depth and strength of

GEORGE O. SMITH. 171

character conveys to us better than any words of mine the
spiritual force of this modest gentleman.

Mr. Smith's father came to Lexington, about 1820, from
Stirling, Massachusetts, having at about the same time
married Hannah Lane of Bedford, daughter of a soldier of
the Revolution. From this marriage there were three
children, of whom the youngest, George, was born in 1832.
Of alien stock, therefore, George Smith nevertheless loved
Lexington with the affection and served her with the
fidelity of one whose ancestral roots ran deep down into
this sacred soil. And although, as he and many others
thought, cruelly injured at her hands, he continued to his
last day to lavish upon Lexington a sort of personal affection
which in some measure eased, perhaps, the loneliness due
to bachelorhood and an unusual dearth of relatives.

As a patriot, Mr. Smith was sound and true ; for he held
the real meaning of patriotism to be the doing of one's
whole duty as a citizen throughout the circle of one's daily
life. Were it a question of politics, he voted as he honestly
beheved. Were it a question of town affairs, he seldom
failed in attendance upon public meetings, he never failed
in the performance of whatever work his fellow-citizens
appointed him to do. Were it a question of the church, he
served the parish of East Lexington, during many years,
with zeal and with fidelity. And, finally, were it a question
of human relationships, of the administering of trust funds,
of the helping of friends in distress, of the furthering of
young men in business, of the giving of advice and comfort
out of the stores of his experience, George Smith never
demurred, never slackened for a moment his vigilence or
his interest, always showed himself to be ready to listen, to
be patient with broken promises, to be tolerant even of that
imposture which is ever trying to over-reach such crystal

172 GEORGE O. SMITH.

honesty as his. He was as stern toward himself as any
Puritan ; he was as sympathetic toward others as any min-
ister of Christ. His loneliness, his regret at not having
had larger opportunities, his private griefs, his indignation
at the sweeping away of his home before the march of
so-called progress, made him perhaps, a little embittered
towards life, but they did not make him uncharitable ; he
did not seize upon these as excuses for not doing his full
duty to society. But I think it may fairly be said that
most of the great amount of work for others which George
Smith did, had its foundation in a high sense of duty rather
than in any joy in altruism. Certainly that service was not
done for emolument, for he was as generous with money as
with time ; most assuredly it was not done through vanity,
for he shrank from any form of praise. One kind of ser-
vice, however, he performed with eagerness, with whole-
heartedness, with almost boyish zeal, — and that was his
work for your League and for our Historical Society. That
labor was done because he loved it, because he delighted,
as only the true historian can take pleasure, in rescuing
from oblivion every least fact of history, in shedding light
upon every smallest step in the progress of Lexington or of
these United States. No act of the Lexington Historical
Society, from its inception twenty years ago far into that
future which this bequest will make so much more fruitful
for it, but was of the greatest moment and of the keenest
consequence to him. Equally, every step in the formation
and progress of your League engaged his closest and, as
you know, his most sympathetic and helpful interest. And,
finally, when death came so unexpectedly, taking him away
just as he was to come back to Lexington — for although
his legal residence and all his interests were here, he had
lived for a number of years in Somerville — we found that

GEORGE O. SMITH. 173

he had made large provision in his will for the carrying on
of that work in history which had been the absorbing avoca-
tion of his later years. That will, moreover, created other
admirable trusts, the most notable being one which, genera-
tion after generation, and in a most wise way, will encourage
Lexington young men to seek that higher education the
lack of which the testator himself so keenly felt. In death,
then, as in life, Mr Smith's unassuming but strong person-
ality will be felt here and elsewhere, aiding ambitous youth,
comforting the afflicted, encouraging patriotism by stimu-
lating the study of our nation's history.

When the names of men who now seem greater than Mr.
Smith shall have faded into oblivion, the quiet influence of
this man who shrank even from friendly notice, will be
steadily spreading ; and it will be building up, we feel sure,
other such lives as his, — lives of absolute integrity, of
never-failing courtesy, of helpfulness to others, of devotion
to town and church and state, of silent but deep enthusiasm
for all those things, in the past and in the present, which
make men strong and true, useful and really happy.

Remarks by Mr. Robert P. Clapp.

Mr. President : It is well that a society like this should
record, from time to time, as they pass on to a higher
sphere of action, memorials of such persons as have in
some conspicuous degree deserved well of the community in
which they lived. The duty in this regard which the
present occasion puts upon us, is one that we perform with
sadness, for he who has gone so suddenly away was en-
deared to us all by his kindly qualities and strong personal
charms. But the feeling is tempered well with pride and
satisfaction, since the record which he leaves behind is one

174 GEORGE O. SMITH.

that does credit to this town, and furnishes an inspiration
to every one who would lead a high-minded, unselfish and
useful life.

Though not my good fortune to have known Mr. Smith
closely as a friend or neighbor, I have been many times an
associate of his upon committees and have in other ways
seen enough of him to be impressed by the gentleness and
refinement, sympathy, cheerfulness, fidelity, and high moral
courage which had their abode in the man ; and so, though
I cannot add anything to the just and discriminating memo-
rial which has been read, I am unable to refrain from add-
ing my word of tribute to his worth.

His life has been, it seems to me, one illustrating the
heroism of peace. It has been said that "dissatisfaction
with life's endeavor springs in some degree from dullness ; "
that "we require higher tasks because we do not recognize
the height of those we have ; " that " trying to be kind and
honest seems an affair too simple and too inconsequential
for gentlemen of our heroic mould;" and so "we had
rather set ourselves to something bold, arduous and con-
clusive." Our friend, however, had the wisdom to recog-
nize the height of his tasks, and to see that being honest
and kind, living a simple, frugal life, serving with attentive
kindness his friends and neighbors, performing with quiet
dignity and unselfishness the duties of a citizen, and hus-
banding his resources for the ultimate benefit of humanity
in his native town, was an undertaking worthy of daily and
lifelong patience and fortitude.

A man's personal traits may sometimes be well estimated
from the character of his will and testament. In the case
of our friend this fact is illustrated with uncommon effect,
for the paper was drawn with his own hand, apparently
unaided by anyone. Having comparatively little legal ter-

GEORGE O. SMITH. 175

minology, and being written in his own literary style — a
style, as you well know, possessed of much merit — the
document reflects his individual qualities and makes clear
his aspirations. A copy should be filed in the archives of
this society. I will refer to one clause, characteristic of
the fine spirit pervading the whole instrument. To a cer-
tain person he gives the sum of ^500 "as a recognition," so
the text runs, " of my appreciation of the legatee's devotion
to his mother, in whose family I lived for many years, and
of a long period of friendship unclouded by the slightest
unpleasantness." The will breathes a spirit of service for
others, and shows his devotion to the interests of this
society and his love for Lexington.

As I think of this beautiful life, so fruitful in good deeds,
and so satisfying in the rewards of service to him who has
done them, and note the completeness of endeavor with
which his day has ended, I am reminded of the memorial
verse :

" A late lark twitters in the quiet skies;
And from the west,
Where the sun, his day's work ended,
Lingers as in content,
There falls on the old, gray city
An influence luminous and serene,
A shining peace.

" The smoke ascends
In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires
Shine, and are changed. In the valley
Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun,
Closing his benediction,
Sinks, and the darkening air
Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night —
Night with her train of stars
And her great gift of sleep.

176 GEORGE O. SMITH.

" So be my passing !
My task accomplished and the long day done,
My wages taken, and in my heart
Some late lark singing,
Let me be gathered to the quiet west,
The sundown splendid and serene."

REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES.
By Charles Francis Carter, President.

An appreciation of the life and character of the Rev.
Carlton A. Staples finds most appropriate setting in the
records of the Lexington Historical Society. For in the fel-
lowship of its gatherings around the genial glow of the
wood blazing in the old fireplace, those qualities appeared in
free, unmistakable emphasis that denoted the man as he
was and had been in all the relations of life. There was
a singular simplicity about him and a manifest continuity of
character from the early years until the last. Those who
knew the boy might have accurately prophesied the man,
while those who knew the man could easily guess what the
boy had been. He peculiarly exemplified the phrase used
of another, — " the boy conserved in the man."

To five parishes he had ministered before coming to Lex-
ington. Whether in Meadville or St. Louis, in the years
before the Civil War, in Milwaukee, Chicago or Providence,
he was the earnest, whole-souled man we knew him to be
here, giving himself in free-handed, generous service and
hearty good-will to all about him. When we think of him
as chaplain in the army, identifying himself with the Union
cause and finding his parish in the camp and on the field, we
need not to be told of the ready sympathy he brought to
the suffering, the manly tenderness and true counsel, for
these were part of the man, whether in the thirties or the
seventies. And he who spoke to the members of the
Grand Army Post with such glowing fervor and who
shared the solemn exercises of Memorial Day with such
keen appreciation would have been a comrade in spirit even
if he had not also been one in fact.

178 CARL TON A. ST A PLES.

Those who have heard him take part in town meeting,
ever earnest and often vehement, never using words for
oratorical effect but always to make his meaning and con-
victions clear, uncompromising whenever a question of prin-
ciple was involved and ardently seeking the good of the
community — those who have thus witnessed his devotion to
the town know that wherever he might have been he would
have been a public-spirited man, always to be depended on
to take his part and to stand for the right. As trustee of
Gary Library and chairman of the board for thirteen years,
he rendered admirable service to the town, being zealous to
raise the standard of literary interest and to extend the use
of the library as widely as possible. His impatience with
the trivial and his scorn for the flashy often added to the
humor of the situation when books were under discussion
with his fellow trustees, and the quick vent given to petty
prejudices was passed with a smile, for these foibles were
the manifest foil of finer traits and carried their own anti-
dote with them.

A rare citizen and a true minister, who will deny that his
public life found its freest expression within the field of
Lexington's history, that never lost for him its charm and
inspiration t Identified with the Society from the first and
associated with the Rev. Edward G. Porter in its organiza-
tion, he gave himself unstintedly to further its interests, and
the more he gave the more he received. Where in our
midst has been a finer instance of the truth of the great
paradox that the life lost is the life saved } It was so mani-
festly a service of love he rendered, yet for his own sake
who would have had it less complete, for this service was to
him a perennial spring of joy .? Blessed is the man who has
an absorbing interest !

As president of the Society for several years and as its

CARLTON A. STAPLES. 179

historian, he guided and shaped its development. His name
appears oftener than that of any other on its records, and
his pen has furnished many valuable pages to the chronicles
of the olden time. The most conspicuous work he did was
the saving of the Hancock-Clarke house. In the year 1896
preparations were being made to tear down the old house in
which the Rev. John Hancock and the Rev. Jonas Clarke
had lived, to which Hancock and Adams had often resorted
for safety and consultation, which had also been one chief
objective of Revere' s midnight ride and a center of influence
in those stirring times. Standing on its original site, it was
not for sale. It would have been an everlasting pity, a
calamity that makes one shudder now to think of, had the
old house been destroyed. Yet such things happen and no
one speaks until the time for action has gone by. Then
comes lasting regret. Fortunately for Lexington and for
the United States of America, there was a man here who
felt what the passing of this landmark would mean. He
saw that it must be preserved. He stirred the citizens to
action and initiated a movement to secure the needful funds.
He agreed to buy the house, pledging his own resources,
while depending on the growing spirit and good faith of the
community. He effected the trade and the house was
moved from its foundation to a new site just across the way,
facing the street at the same angle as before but exactly re-
versed. It was repaired and strengthened in the framework,
and now as the home of the Society is the repository of its
valuable relics, that have come to it in surprising numbers
because of such a permanent home, and a Mecca for thou-
sands of patriotic pilgrims who yearly come to it from all
parts of the world. In the preservation of this house a
monument has been erected that should so long as it en-
dures, be associated with the name of Mr. Staples.

l8o CARLTON A. STAPLES.

If the house is now, in some true sense, his monument,
while he was Uving he made the past to glow within it as no
other could. How vivid the past became as he rehearsed
the story ! His was not the detached interest of an anti-
quary who gathers fossil forms from a dead past, that one may
whet his curiosity upon them. In the relics he felt the
piilse of the living past and was transported to it, and his
talk about it transported those who heard. Hence the rare
delight it was to make the round of the chambers with him
and share the knowledge and feeling that were deeper
still.

From the old parsonage to the village green is a short
walk. It took our friend to the place he loved best in this
whole world. Who that has seen him there, telling the
story he knew and loved so well, can ever forget the picture
and the impression of it } Going to the monument, with the
gesture of a parish priest, he would gather the people around
him, disposing them as he would that they might see and
hear, and then, his face aglow, his voice vibrant with the
theme, his being suffused with the spirit of it, he would tell
of the British and the minutemen on that April day big
with destiny, while his own person in form and feature
seemed a present embodiment of the stalwart heroism en-
acted on that green so long ago. To have seen and heard
him there was to have an ineffaceable impression of a great
event in history.

Thus in all the relations he sustained there appeared the
virtues of a spontaneous nature : sympathy and enthusiasm.
As was said of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, he was totus in illo.
The whole man went into everything he did. Things inter-
ested him very much or not at all. There was never any
doubt as to the genuineness of his feelings and his expres-
sion of them. When associated with other speakers in pub-

CARLTON A. STAPLES. l8l

lie, one could readily tell the impression being made on him,
as the half-suppressed sigh indicated his dissent or wonder
how anybody could say such a thing as that, while his entire
bearing, when in agreement, would show most cordial satis-
faction. He had almost the mind of a child in the com-
pleteness of surrender to whatever appealed to him, and,
because it meant so much to him, with something of the
same childlike spirit he wanted to tell about it and to share
it with others. This gave to his personality a charm that
will bring many a smile of gladness to those who recall his
hearty way. In his sympathy there was a kind of eagerness
that made you sure of it beforehand, and whether he was
admitting you to a share in his life, the last good story he
had heard, or some deeper concern, or whether he was enter-
ing into your need, your joy or sorrow, you felt he was giv-
ing you the genuine fellowship of a whole-souled man.

Through the possession of these qualities appeared what
was perhaps the most distinctive trait in his character that
more nearly than anything else accounts for the influence
he had. Whatever he had was freely available for use. He
filled a large place in the community, not because of extraor-
dinary endowments, but because all that he was he freely
rendered for others' good. Here was no hoarded manhood.
All the talents were put out at interest, and his fellow-men
were the beneficiaries, while on the score of his life was
written, Co7i amove, and in the sharing of it he had rare and
constant joy.

THE REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES.

Resolutions offered by Mr. James P. Munroe at a Meeting
Held October ii, 1904.

At the close of fifty years of devoted and successful minis-
try and of fruitful citizenship, at the golden milestone of a
blessed married life, the Reverend Carlton A. Staples has
been translated, without pain, suffering or weakness, to
another life.

No other ending of such a beneficent life could be so fit-
ting ; but no other death in Lexington could so bereave the
town. As a minister he preached the Christian virtues, he
taught simplicity of living, he exhorted his people to love and
serve their fellow-men. As a man he never failed to ex-
emplify those virtues, that simplicity, such unflagging love
and service. As a citizen he showed us, old and young,
what true citizenship means. As an historian and speaker
he taught us to appreciate the real greatness of what our
fathers did, the high measure of our obligation to their
heroism. As a preserver of this Hancock-Clarke House, he
built a new shrine for eager pilgrims, a new altar whereon
the thousands who make this pilgrimage may pledge them-
selves to the service of a genuine patriotism. As a member,
as the historian, and as president of this Society, he was the
heart that sent life through its arteries, giving the organi-
zation vitality and insuring to it enduring activity.

Recognizing these and many other noble and rare quali-
ties in Mr. Staples, we of the Lexington Historical Society
desire to put on record our gratitude that this town, for
twenty-three years, has been blessed with such a power for
good as he. We desire to express our appreciation, more-

CARLTON A. STAPLES. 183

over, of his extraordinary services to this organization
through his zeal as a member, through his learning as an
historian, and through his power as a writer and speaker.
Especially do we wish to acknowledge his illuminating papers
prepared for this Society, his careful records as its historian,
his tireless hospitality in welcoming and instructing the
thousands of visitors, and his generous labors in connection
with the preservation, restoration and care of this Hancock-
Clarke House.

Finally, as men and women who mourn with them, we
would respectfully convey to his wife and son our profound
sympathy in a loss the greatness of which, in all its phases,
only they can fully understand.

Additional remarks were also made by Mr. A. S. Parsons.

PROCEEDINGS.

Regular Meeting, December 12, 1899.

A commitee was appointed to have charge of literary exercises at
approaching celebration of April 19th.

Rev. James Benton Werner read a paper upon "A Pennsylvania
German Village."

The president announced that the Society would observe Fore-
fathers' Day on December 20, and Prof. John Fiske would deliver an
address in Hancock Church on " The Salem Witchcraft."

Special Meeting, January 9, 1900.

A committee of five was appointed to consider plans for celebrating
the fourteenth anniversary of the formation of the Society. The
Society voted to have the annual meeting accompanied by a banquet.

Rev. C. A. Staples was made delegate to a special anniversary
meeting of the Worcester Antiquarian Society.

Dr. W. O. Perkins read a paper on " Latin and Anglo-Saxon Types
of Civilization."

Regular Meeting, February 13, 1900.

The president announced the death of Rev. Edward G. Porter and
appointed a committee of five to suggest suitable action in regard to
it. The committee reported later, through Rev. C. A. Staples, an
appreciative testimonial to Mr. Porter and his valuable services to the
Society, which report the meeting accepted and directed it spread
upon the records.

Miss Mary E. Hudson read a paper entitled " Some Memories of
the Lexington Centennial."

Annual Meeting, March 13, 1900.
The Society held a banquet in Old Belfry Club House, with appro-
priate speeches. The business meeting was adjourned to March 20.

11. PROCEEDINGS.

Adjourned Annual Meeting, March 20, 1900.

The regular annual reports were made and accepted.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year :

President, Rev. Carlton A. Staples.

Vice-Presidents, Mr. George O. Whiting, Mr. Everett M. MuUiken,
Mr. Frank C. Childs, Miss Mary E. Hudson, Miss M. Alice Munroe.

Recording Secretary, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Corresponding Secretary, Mr. George O. Smith.

Treasurer, Mr. Leonard A. Saville.

Historian, Rev. C. A. Staples.

Custodian, Mr. Charles A. Wellington.

The council appointed, as house committee for the year: Mr. C. A.
Wellington, Rev. C. A. Staples, Mr. George O. Whiting, Mrs. A. S.
Parsons, Mr. C. B. Davis, Miss M. Alice Munroe.

Regular Meeting, April 10, 1900.
Mr. E. P. Nichols read a paper on the " Life and Character of
Edward Everett."

Regular Meeting, October 9, 1900.

Resolutions on the death of Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., presented
with some interesting personal recollections by Rev. A. W. Stevens,
were unanimously adopted.

The committee on Hancock-Clarke House reported that ten thou-
sand people had visited the house during the last six months.

A committee was appointed to consider some means of better
protecting the Old Belfry from the elements and from relic-hunters.

Mr. Staples reported, informally, on the search for graves of British
soldiers killed at the Battle of Lexington.

Dr. Francis H. Brown read an interesting and suggestive paper on
" The Aims and Objects of our Patriotic Societies."

Mr. Charles A. Wellington resigned his office as custodian and Mr.
Charles B. Davis was chosen for the unexpired term.

Regular Meeting, December 9, 1900.
President Staples read a letter from the Deliverance Munroe Chap-
ter, D. A. R., asking that the Historical Society take charge of a tablet

PROCEEDINGS. 111.

the chapter had recently placed on the Munroe house facing Common.
Mr. Edward P. Bliss read a paper on his recent tour through Greece.

Special Meeting, January 15, 1901.

A resolution of sympathy with our fellow-member, Mr. Charles A.
Wellington, in his distressing and critical illness, was unanimously
adopted.

Mr. Staples read a short paper upon " Lexington One Hundred
Years Ago and Lexington To-day," after which Mr. Abram English
Brown of Bedford read a paper upon " Peter Faneuil and His Gifts
to Boston."

Regular Meeting, February 12, 1901.

The president feelingly referred to the recent death of Mr. Charles
A. Wellington, one of the original and most active members of the
Society, and was followed by Hon. A. E. Scott, Mr. George O. Smith,
Mr. James P. Munroe and Mr. A. S. Parsons, in warm tribute to Mr.
Wellington's worth.

By a rising vote the meeting unanimously approved the suggestion
that the remarks be spread upon the records and printed and sent to
Mr. Wellington's family.

A letter from Mrs. Van Ness was read, asking that the Society take
measures toward putting the Old Cemetery in repair.

It was voted to ask for insertion in the ne.xt town warrant of an
article asking for an appropriation for this purpose.

Mr. Robert P. Clapp read a paper on his recent experiences in
Constantinople.

Annual Meeting, March 12, 1901.
The usual annual reports were read and accepted.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year :
President, Rev. Carlton A. Staples.

Vice-Presidents, Mr. Edward P. Bliss, Mr. E. A. Bayley, Mrs. J. O.
Tilton, Miss E. M. Tower, Mr, Charles H. Wiswell.
Recording Secretary, Mr. Irving P. Fox.
Treasurer, Mr. L. A. Saville.
Historian, Rev. C. A. Staples.

IV. PROCEEDINGS.

Custodian, Dr. F. S. Piper.

Corresponding Secretary, Mr. George O. Smith.

House Committee, Mr. George O. Whiting, Mrs. W. H. Greeley,
Rev. C. F. Carter, Rev. C. A. Staples, Mrs. H. H. Putnam, A. C. Wash-
bum.

Committee on Publication, Mr. James P. Munroe, Mr. A. S. Par-
sons, Rev. C. A. Staples, Miss M. E. Hudson, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Voted that a photograph of the late Charles A. Wellington be framed
and placed in the Hancock-Clarke House.

In place of a paper the president read extracts from an unpublished
book by Edward Burnham, entitled^ " What Edward Bumham Saw
at the Hancock-Clarke House."

Regular Meeting, April 9, 1901.
The paper of the evening, a " Study of the Works of William
Makepeace Thackeray" was read by Rev. Charles J. Staples of Man-
chester.

Regular Meeting, Octobers, 1901.

The custodian presented a full report showing the difficult and
painstaking work done in arranging, labeling and indexing the posses-
sions of the Society.

The House Committee reported that from April 16 to October i
the house was visited by nearly 11,000 persons.

President Staples read a paper written by the late Francis Brown,
giving recollections of the early ministers of Lexington.

Special Meeting, November 12, 1901.
Rev. James Salloway of Bedford read a paper on Cotton Mather.

Regular Meeting, December 10, 1901.
Rev. Charles F. Carter gave an address upon the recent Yale Bi-
centennial.

PROCEEDINGS. V.

Regular Meeting, February ii, 1902.

The paper of the evening was by Mr. Albert W. Bryant upon " The
Anti-Masonic Movement in the United States and particularly in
Lexington."

In the absence of Mr. Bryant, now eighty-eight years of age, his
paper was read by Dr. F. S. Piper.

Annual Meeting, March n, 1902.
Banquet at Old Belfry Club House. Mr. James P. Munroe read a
paper upon " Shays' Rebellion."
The business meeting was adjourned to March 18.

Adjourned Annual Meeting, March 18, 1902.

The annual reports were made and accepted.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:

President, Mr. George O. Smith.

Vice-Presidents, Rev. C. F. Carter, Mr. F. C. Childs, Mr. Hammon
Reed, Miss E. S. Parker, Miss E. E. Harrington.

Recording Secretary, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Treasurer, Mr. L. A. Saville.

Historian, Rev. C. A. Staples.

Custodian, Dr. F. S. Piper.

Corresponding Secretary, Mr. George O. Smith.

House Committee, Mr. George O. Whiting, Rev. C. A. Staples, Mr.
A. C. Washburn, Mr. A. Bradford Smith, Miss M. Alice Munroe, Mrs.
Ellen B. Lane.

Committee on Publication, Mr. James P. Munroe, Mr. A. S. Parsons,
Rev. C. A. Staples, Miss M. E. Hudson, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Mr. Staples read an extract from the " Life of Henry Ware, Jr.,"
describing the former occupant of the Hancock-Clarke House, Rev.
Jonas Clarke, and his family.

Regular Meeting, April 8, 1902.
Rev. C. A. Staples read a most interesting paper upon " The Origin
and Extinction of Slavery in Massachusetts."

VI. PROCEEDINGS.

Regular Meeting, October 14, 1902.

A committee of five was appointed to consider the matter of pro-
viding better protection for the valuable possessions of the Society.

Dr. Francis H. Brown read a paper on " The Old Burial Ground."
Over seven hundred epitaphs had been deciphered and transcribed.

Regular Meeting, January 13, 1903.

The meeting of the Society, December 9, 1902, was prevented by a
disastrous fire in the immediate vicinity of the Hancock-Clarke House.
President Smith had placed in the house a large hand loom, and a lady
was present to show how cloth was woven in the olden time, but the
whole matter was indefinitely postponed.

The meeting January 13, 1903, was held in the Hancock-Clarke
House.

The House Committee reported that 14,290 persons had visited the
house between April i and December i, 1902.

President Smith feelingly referred to the recent death of Mr. Albert
W. Bryant, one of the Society's oldest and most interested members,
and a committee was appointed to prepare suitable resolutions.

The paper of the evening was by Rev. C. A. Staples, on " Massa-
chusetts in the Colonial Period."

Regular Meeting, February 10, 1903.

Mr. Staples, for committee, reported appropriate resolutions on the
death of Mr. Albert W. Bryant.

Mr. A. Bradford Smith read a paper on " The Old Concord Turn-
pike," and Miss Elizabeth W. Harrington followed with a paper upon
" Early Clock-making in Lexington."

Mr. Nichols gave an interesting explanation of the derivation of the
name " Trapelo," in connection with Trapelo Road.

Annual Meeting, March 10, 1903.
The annual reports were read and accepted.
The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year :
President, Rev. Charles F. Carter.
Vice-Presidents, Mr. Hammon Reed, M r. Frank C. Childs, Mr

PROCEEDINGS. Vll.

Charles G. Kauifman, Miss Elizabeth S. Parker, Miss Ellen E. Har-
rington.

Recording Secretary, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Treasurer, Mr. Leonard A. Saville.

Historian, Rev. C. A. Staples.

Custodian, Dr. F. S. Piper.

Corresponding Secretary, Mr. George O. Smith.

House Committee, Mr. George O. Whiting, Rev. C. A. Staples, Mr.
A. C. Washburn, Mr. Cornelius Wellington, Miss M. Alice Munroe,
Mrs. Ellen B. Lane.

Committee on Publication, Mr. James P. Munroe, Mr. Albert S. Par-
sons, Rev. C. A. Staples, Miss Mary E. Hudson, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

The paper was read by Mrs. David W. Muzzey on " Colonial
Industries."

On motion of Mr. Nichols it was voted that the secretary be in-
structed to request our representative in the Legislature to take such
action as, in his judgment, might seem best, to secure for the Society
the drum used on Lexington Green April 19, 1775, ^'^d now in the
State House in Boston.

Regular Meeting, April 14, 1903.

Mr. George O. Smith reported his attendance, as delegate, at the
meeting of the newly formed Bay State Historical League. On motion
of Mr. Clapp it was voted that the Lexington Historical Society join
the Bay State Historical League.

Mr. Herbert G. Locke read a paper on " Recent 19th of April
Celebrations."

Regular Meeting, October 13, 1903.

The House Committee reported that the number of visitors at the
old house from April i to October 10, 1903, was 18,855.

The amendment to the By-Laws proposed at the last meeting, that
Article III., third paragraph, be so amended as to read, " Each mem-
ber shall pay an admission fee of ^i.oo and an annual assessment
of 50 cents after the year of admission," was taken from the table and
passed without a dissenting vote.

Miss Mary E. Hudson read a paper entitled "Early Days of the
Lexington High School."

VIU. PROCEEDINGS.

Regular Meeting, December 8, 1903.

President Carter announced to the Society the death of Mr. George
O. Smith. Appreciative remarks followed from Mr. R. P. Clapp and
Mr. James P. Munroe. A committee of three was appointed to draft
suitable resolutions to be placed upon the records of the Society.

Mr. A. S. Parsons, one of the executors, read articles from the will
of Mr. Smith, in which $10,000 is given to this Society.

The House Committee reported that 20,255 persons had visited the
house and signed the register during the year, and over ;^ 1,000 had
been received in contributions from visitors.

Mr. M. J. Canavan read a paper on " The Old Main Road in
Lexington, with Particular Attention to the Settlement around the
Common."

Mr. James P. Munroe presented, with appropriate remarks, three
medals which had been conferred upon the late Baroness von
Olnhausen by the German Emperor, in recognition of her services as
an army nurse. One of the medals, the Iron Cross, has been given
to no other American woman except Miss Clara Barton, the head of
the Red Cross Society.

The Society voted that a tablet be prepared, in memory of Baroness
von Olnhausen, and placed in some prominent position in the Hancock-
Clarke House.

Regular Meeting, February 9, 1904.

Rev. C. A. Staples, for the committee appointed to take action on
the death of Mr. George O. Smith, reported suitable resolutions and
read a memorial of Mr. Smith which was followed by a graceful and
feeling tribute from Mr. Robert P. Clapp.

The Society voted that the resolutions, which were accepted by a
rising vote, and the memorial prepared by Mr. Staples, be placed on
file and be printed in the next volume of the Proceedings of the
Society.

The reading of the paper announced for this meeting was postponed
till a later date.

Annual Meeting, March 8, 1904.
The president announced that he had appointed as the committee
to represent the Society in relation to the bequest of the late Mr.

PROCEEDINGS. ix.

Smith, Mr. George O. Whiting, Mr. Robert P. Clapp and Mr. E. P.
Nichols. Dr. F. S. Piper, retiring custodian, made an extended report,
and on motion of Rev. Mr. Staples it was voted that " the thanks of
the Society be extended to Dr. Piper for his most able and conscien-
tious services and great fidelity as custodian during his term of office
covering about three years."

Voted : That Vols. I. and II. of the Proceedings of the Society be
offered for sale to members of the Society at 50 cents each. Dr.
Piper, Miss Hudson and Miss Kirkland were appointed a committee
to investigate the authenticity of the relics in possession of the
Society ; also to cooperate with trustees of Gary Library with view
to making publications received by the Society more accessible to the
public.

Voted : That a banquet be held in connection with the April
meeting.

Voted: That invitation be extended to the Bay State Historical
League to hold its annual outing in Lexington June 4. The chair
appointed Rev. Mr. Staples, Miss M. Alice Munroe and Mrs. W. G.
Stickle a committee on reception.

The following officers were elected :

President, Rev. Gharles F. Garter.

Vice-Presidents, Mr. H. Reed, Mr. F. G. Ghilds, Mr. Charles G.
Kauffman, Miss E. S. Parker, Miss E. E. Harrington.

Recording Secretary, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Treasurer, Mr. L. A. Saville.

Historian, Rev. G. A. Staples.

Gustodian, Miss Marion P. Kirkland.

Corresponding Secretary, Miss Mary E. Hudson.

House Gommittee, Mr. G. O. Whiting, Rev. G. A. Staples, Mr. A. G.
Washburn, Mr. Cornelius Wellington, Miss M. A. Munroe, Mrs. E. B.
Lane.

Gommittee on Publication, Mr. J. P. Munroe, Mr. A. S" Parsons,
Rev. G. A. Staples, Miss M. E. Hudson, Mr. Irving P. Fox.

Miss Mary E. Hudson read an interesting account from a letter
written by herself on June 18, 1875, descriptive of the visit of General
W. T. Sherman to Lexington at that time. The Rev. Mr. Staples
read a short sketch narrating how the Hancock-Clarke House was
saved and purchased by the Society.

X. PROCEEDINGS.

Meeting, April 12, 1904.

This meeting was in the form of a banquet served at the Old Belfry
Club House, at which about one hundred members and friends were
present. The members of the committee having it in charge were :
Rev. C. A. Staples, Mr. J. F. Russell, Miss M. Alice Munroe, Mrs.
F. C. Childs and Mr. H. W. Porter.

An oration was delivered by Mr. Edwin D. Mead on " The Evolution
of Peace." Mr. Robert P. Clapp also spoke. Mrs H. W. Porter,
Miss Mabel Stroch and Miss Alice Williams furnished a musical
programme.

Regular Meeting, October ii, 1904.

The treasurer announced the bequest of fe,ooo to the Society from
the estate of the late Mr. Billings of Boston and the gift was accepted.
Mr. Piper was authorized to examine grave in Old Cemetery supposed
to contain remains of British soldier and, if satisfied of the truth of
the tradition, to place a marker upon the spot.

The death of the Rev. Carlton A. Staples, a former president of the
Society and its historian from the time of its formation until his
death, was formally announced by the president.

Mr. James P. Munroe read a tribute to the memory of Mr. Staples,
which will be found in the former part of this volume. After additional
remarks by the president and Mr. A. S. Parsons, the tribute was
unanimously accepted, all standing, as expressing the sentiment of
the Society.

A committee was appointed — Mr. J. P. Munroe, Miss Hudson and
Mr. Nichols — to secure a portrait of Mr. Staples, to be hung in the
Hancock-Clarke House, bearing an inscription calling particular
attention to his efforts in the preservation of the house. It was also
voted that this committee prepare and publish a suitable memorial
leaflet.

It was voted that the house be kept open throughout the winter,
notwithstanding the slight financial loss.

Dr. F. S. Piper was appointed historian and member of House
Committee in the place of the late Mr. Staples, and Rev. C. F. Carter,
member of Publication Committee.

A paper upon the " Munroe Tavern," written by the late Albert W.
Bryant, was read by Dr. Piper.

PROCEEDINGS. xi.

Regular Meeting, December 13, 1904.

The president announced that during the summer he had prepared
large photographs, 4x5 feet, of the Captain Parker statue and of the
Hancock-Clarke House, and that they had been exhibited in the
Massachusetts House during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, that
they would also be on exhibition at the Oregon Fair, that the total
expense had not exceeded ^50, and that his action had been approved
by the council.

Mr. A. Bradford Smith read a short sketch of a British officer who
was found lying dead on the doorstep of his grandfather's house on
the day of the battle. This step is the same as is now in use before
the Hancock-Clarke House.

Mr. Arthur E. Horton, C. E., read a suggestive paper on the " First
Settlements of Lexington," which was followed by a discussion by
members.

GIFTS.

Framed photographs of portraits of Thomas Hancock, Lydia Han-
cock, his wife, and John Hancock. Given by Mrs. Lydia B. Taft.

Table from Dr. Clarke's house, skillet and two brass kettles. Loaned
by Mrs. Lydia B. Taft.

Engraving, " First Reading of Emancipation Proclamation Before
the Cabinet." Pitcher used in the Byam family for more than one
hundred years. Both given by Mrs. E. M. Byam.

More than fifty articles, including books, sermons, pictures, bedstead,
etc. From the estate of Miss Sarah Chandler.

Two spinning-wheels, reel and pudding-dish. From Mrs. Sophia
Davis and Mrs. Mary Meserve.

Letters of Chris. Kilby to Thomas Hancock, Arkansas treasurj-
warrants, Confederate money. Given by Mrs. G. Mears.

Dedham Hist. Register, Vols. X. and IV. Given by Dedham Hist.
Society.

Worcester Society of Antiquity, 1898. Given by Worcester Society
of Antiquity.

Grapeshot f rom Mt. Independence, Ticonderoga, 1777. Bullet from
Plains of Abraham, Sept. 13, 1759. A true piece of Plymouth Rock.
Button of British soldier taken from trench on Bunker Hill. Frag-
ment of blood-stained cloth taken from one of the minute men of
Cambridge, April 19, 1775. Photograph of Vane made in 1721 and
placed on the New Brick Hanover Street Church. Pamphlet me-
morial to the men of Cambridge who fell in the first battle of the
Revolutionary war. All given by Mr. W. A. Saunders of Cambridge.

Framed list of Americans killed April 19, 1775. Given by Mr. E. W.
McGlenen.

Complete alphabetical index of all guests at Centennial dinner,
April 19, 1875, with number of seat occupied by each. From Miss
Mary E. Hudson.

Original manuscript draft, framed, of the first call, signed by Rev.
E. G. Porter and Rev. C. A. Staples, preliminary' to the formation of
the Society. From Mr. H. G. Locke.

GIFTS. Xlll.

Twenty photographs of places of historic interest. Papers relating
to inmates of Clarke House. Brittannia lamps and bakers. Bill of
Stephen Paddock against John Hancock, 1769. Log book of Ship
Bombay, a paper published during the War of 18 12, and a Federal-
ist. All from Mrs. C. C. Goodwin.

Powder-horn found by the late L. G. Babcock on the battlefield of
Port Hudson. From Mrs. Babcock.

Silhouette of Mary, eldest daughter of Rev. Jonas Clarke. From
Mrs. Lucy Clarke Powers of Lansingburg, N. Y., granddaughter of
the original of the picture.

Winnowing basket of ancient use ; two calashes. Poem by Rev.
John Pierpont, and one by Hannah F. Gould, sung at the ceremony
attending removal of the bones of the minute men from the Old Bury-
ing-ground to the Common in 1835. Sermon by Jonas Clarke preached
in 1770. Proclamation of Gov. John Hancock relating to Shays' Re-
bellion, 1787. All from Mrs. Howland Holmes.

Knife and canteen picked up on one of the battlefields of the Civil
War. From Mr. George W. Field of Lowell.

Additional volume containing names of Massachusetts soldiers and
sailors who served in the Revolution. From the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.

Handsome mahogany cabinet formerly used in the Hancock-Clarke
House, and in which state papers of great value were hidden by Han-
cock and Adams on the night of April 18, 1775. Given by Mrs. Asa
Gray of Cambridge.

Old family Bible, cradle, big brass kettle, big iron pot, old-fashioned
chair, sausage filler, mortar and pestle. From Mr. J. F. Simonds.

A push-plough used in early part of eighteenth century. A colored
print of the Battle of Lexington (supposed to be one of the first pictures
of the battle ever published), framed in old weather-beaten wood held
together by wrought-iron nails, and mounted with a bayonet picked
up on Dorchester Heights, supposed to have been left there by a Revo-
lutionary soldier ; also a book of ancient pictures of the Battle of Lex-
ington and a sermon on the battle by Jonas Clarke. All from the late
Mr. Charles A. Wellington.

A sermon on George Washington by Timothy Alden, Jr. From
Mr. David W. Muzzey.

Two bound volumes of Boston daily newspapers, published immedi-
ately after the great fire in 1872, and the centennial celebration in 1875,
from Mr. Geo. O. Smith.

XIV. GIFTS.

A framed business card of Paul Revere. From Mr. C. A. Wellington.
A letter by Joseph Warren, written in the Provincial Congress, April

25. 1775-

A picture of the old Cradock house, Medford, Mass.; four dozen
copies of description of the Battle of Lexington by Elias Phinney.
All from estate of the late Mr. Charles A. Wellington.

A large framed photograph of the old Bowman house, the oldest
house now standing in Lexington, built in 1649. From Mrs. Van Ness.

Platinum picture of Tidd house. From Mr. B. C. Whitcher.

Three chairs. From Misses F. M. and S. E. Robinson.

Feather bed, husk bed, cheese press, big three-gallon glass bottle,
Dutch oven, implements used in the fur industry in Lexington, etc.,
from the Stephen Robbins homestead. Given by Miss Ellen A. Stone.

Pair of candle snuffers. From Mrs. W. F. Caldwell.

Jonathan Harrington s coffee mill. From Mrs. Harrison Pierce.

Vols. IIL, IV., v., VL, VIL of " Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolu-
tionary War." From Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Autograph copy of a page of Town Records of Fairfield, Conn.,
showing record of marriage of John Hancock and Dorothy Quincy,
framed proclamation, many manuscripts, etc. From estate of Rev. E.
G. Porter.

Desk said to have been used by Washington in Medford, and a
hammock reel. From the Wellington estate.

Bullet mould, candle moulds, lamp filler, wooden crowbar, ktter of
Eliza Clarke to Mary Simonds, Lincoln presidential campaign papers.
From estate of Mr. Joseph F. Simonds.

Iron shovel used in brick oven in Monument House, 1816. From
Mrs. Sophia Davis.

Two volumes of Field genealogy. From Mr. Marshall Field, Chi-
cago.

Several manuscripts, including Rev. A. B. Muzzey's " History of the
Battle of Lexington.'' From Mr. Loring W. Muzzey.

A number of articles of historic interest, formerly owned by the
late Charles A. Wellington. Presented by Mr. CorneHus Wellington.

Catalogue of Colburn collection of autographs and portraits in
Bostonian Society. From Mr. D. H. Coolidge.

Pamphlet, " Two Colonial Dames, Dorothy Q. and Dorothy Quincy
Hancock." From Colonial Dames of America, New York City.

Two pumpkin hoods, various articles of dress for a child, homespun

GIFTS. XV.

linen towel, two fancy vests and a teakettle. Partly donated and partly
loaned by Miss Elizabeth Pierce.

Embroidered memorial mourning-piece, framed. From Miss El-
vira W. Harrington.

Framed picture of William Dawes, Jr. From Miss Julia Goddard,
Brookline.

Lamp and reflector formerly used in Universalist meeting-house,
East Lexington ; one large tray. Both from Miss Elizabeth Pierce.

Bedspread embroidered with figures from Hogarth's pictures. From
Dr. J. O. Tilton.

Tassel from first chaise in Lexington. From Mr. Nathaniel Pierce.

Photograph of Dr. Seth Saltmarsh. From Miss Saltmarsh.

Cheese-curd basket. From Mr. A. Bradford Smith.

Old-time flail. From Mr. H. H. Tyler.

Dancing-boots worn by the late Nathaniel Pierce. From Miss
Elizabeth Pierce.

Old-fashioned table. From Mrs. Oliver Brown.

Framed spray of arborvitae thrown by the Masons on the grave of
Jonathan Harrington, last survivor of Battle of Lexington.

Antique bedspread made about 1770- 1780, formerly owned by
Daniel Brown of Boston, one of the Boston Tea Party. From Miss
Elvira H. Brown, great-great-granddaughter of Daniel Brown.

Framed autograph letter from Hon. Robert C. Winthrop ; four
United States Philadelphia centennial medals. From Mrs. Everett
S. Locke.

Bed and chairs. From Miss Elizabeth Pierce.

Vols. IX. and X., " Soldiers and Sailors of Revolutionary War."
From Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

" Old Derry Field." From Manchester (N. H.) Hist. Society.

Etching of Munroe Tavern. From Mrs. James P. Munroe.

Sword, hat, canteen and knapsack, used by Josiah Harrington in
Lexington Artillery Company. From Miss Lucy Harrington, Concord,
Mass.

Suit of boy's clothes worn by Larkin Pierce when three years old,
born 1798, died 1801. Given by Mrs. H. J. Nicoll and Mrs. H. B.
Sampson.

Bits and bit braces used by David Tuttle about 1800.

Top of arch of welcome to Lafayette, painted on linen.

Moulding plane used in 1805. From Mr. D. A. Tuttle.

XVI. GIFTS.

Letters of Earl Percy, Vol. I. From Mr. C. K. Bolton, Boston Ath-
enaeum.

Two wooden candlesticks made from the Hancock elm after it was
blown down. From Miss Cordelia Floyd, Waltham, Mass.

Horn snuffbox made about 1750 and used by Lucy, wife of Joseph
Harrington. From Miss Lucy Harrington, Concord, Mass.

Hand loom. From Mr. George O. Smith.

Two pairs of shutters formerly on the Hancock-Clarke House.
From Misses Rowena and Ellen L. Nash.

Paper and inscriptions in old cemetery. From Dr. Francis H.
Brown.

Receipt of William Dimond, drummer of the minute men. From
Mr. Samuel W. Child.

Large framed reprint of map made of Boston in 1722, and one show-
ing the location of all property holders, streets, etc., in Lexington in
1853. From Mr. George O. Smith.

Manuscript record of deaths in Lexington from 1782 to 1854, kept
by Jonathan Harrington. Given by Mrs. Harrison Pierce.

Old-fashioned brass snuffbox with 1745 engraved on the end. From
Mr. George O. Smith.

Old warrant, in manuscript, of the town of Lexington in 1792.

Proceedings of Oneida Hist. Society of Utica, N. Y. From Mr.
F. L. Proctor of Utica.

Drum beaten on Lexington Green, April 19, 1775, by William Di-
mond. From State of Massachusetts.

Fifteen valuable old pamphlets. From Mr. Edward T. Chandler.

Diplomatic coat worn by William Eustis when United States minis-
ter to the Court of The Hague. From estate of Mrs. George W.
Porter.

Block design made in copper for printing calico. From Mr. A. D.
Puffer.

Manuscript : Order for a General Court Martial to be held at Con-
cord, 1788, addressed to Col. William Munroe of Lexington. Loaned
by Mr. Frederick M. Munroe.

Pamphlet, " The Right to Bear Arms." From Mr. Henry S. Rug-
gles.

Valuable book published by the French Government, list of French
soldiers and sailors in American Revolution. From the Secretary of
State, U. S.

GIFTS. XVU.

Old volumes and sermons. From Mrs. T. E. Cutter.

Three medals conferred upon the late Baroness von Olnhausen by
the German Emperor in recognition of her services as an army nurse.
One of these medals, the Iron Cross, has been given to no other
American except Clara Barton, head of the Red Cross Society. These
medals were presented through Mr. James P. Munroe.

Letter seals owned by Theodore Parker. From Wellington family.

Card sent by Theodore Parker to Miss Caroline Thayer. From the
Wellington family.

Sermons by Jonas Clarke and others. From Mr. Charles F. Greene,
Saco, Me.

Framed picture of Amos Locke. From Mrs. G. F. Marvin, New
York, and Miss Etta Locke, Lexington.

Iron skittle belonging to Harrington family. From Mrs. Otis Locke,
Lynn.

Towel woven by Rebecca MuUiken before 1784. From Miss E. W.
Harrington.

Paper on buildings erected by David Tuttle in Lexington. From
Mr. D. A. Tuttle.

Confederate script, fifty cents. From Mr. Frank M. Alley.

Old-fashioned bonnet. From Mrs. Arthur W. Hamblen.

Piece of wood from Paul Revere pear-tree. From Canton, Mass.

Vols. XI. and XII. of " Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in Revo-
lutionary War." From Massachusetts Secretaiy of State.

Files of auditors', school committee's and selectmen's reports. From
Mrs. A. W. Hamblen.

Brick bearing the date 1647. From Mr. W. P. Hatch.

Brick taken from the cache at Pemaquid, Me. From Mr. George
H. Cutter.

Pictures of house and bootshop of Warren Duren, Lexington ; Park
Street Church, Boston ; Roger Williams house, Salem, two views ;
portraits of Abijah Harrington and wife; Brevet Major Sullivan
Burbank and wife ; address on " West Cambridge in 1775," t>y Samuel
A. Smith, and a pamphlet entitled " A Plea." From Miss E. W. Har-
rington.

MEMBERSHIP.

HONORARY MEMBERS.

*Brown, G. Washington.

Clark, Miss Grace.
*Clark, Jonas B., Rev.
*Ellis, Geo. E., Rev. D. D.

Putnam, A. P., Rev. D. D.
Staples, Rev. Charles J.
^Winthrop, Robert C.

* Deceased.

Clapp, Robert P.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Whitcher, Miss Florence.

MEMBERS.

Ayer, Rev. and Mrs. J. C.
Bayley, Mr. and Mrs. E. A.
Batcheller, Mr. W. M.
Bennink, Mr. and Mrs. L. E.
Blinn, Miss Helen J.
Bliss, Mr. and Mrs. E. P.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. B. F.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. F. D.
Bryant, Mrs. Albert W.
Butler, Mr. William A.
Butters, Mrs. Frank V.
Butters, Miss S. L.
Carter, Rev. and Mrs. C. F.
Cary, Miss Alice B.
Childs, Mr. and Mrs. F. C.
Clapp, Mrs. R. P.
Cook, Miss Mabel P.
Carleton, Miss G. W.
Crosby, Mrs. Medora R.
Cutler, Mr. Alfred D.
Dale, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E.
Dana, Miss Ellen E.
Davis, Mr. and Mrs. C. B.
Davis, Mr. and Mrs. G. O
Dane, Mr. and Mrs. .F S.
Dean, Mr. and Mrs F. W.
Doe, Mr. and Mrs. C. C.

Fiske, Miss Carrie F.
Fiske, Miss Emma I.
Fobes, Mr. and Mrs. E. F.
Fowle, Mr. Charles A., Jr.
Fox, Mr. and Mrs. I. P.
Gilmore, Mr. and Mrs. G. L.
Goodwin, Mr. and Mrs. C. C.
Gookin, Mrs. Frances S.
Goulding, Mr. and Mrs. G. L.
Greeley, Mrs. H. M.
Hamlin, Miss Emma.
Harrington, Miss C. W.
Harrington, Miss E. E.
Harrington, Miss E. W.
Harrington, Miss Martha M.
Herrick, Mr. and Mrs. F. W.
Hudson, Miss Mary E.
Hunt, Miss Anstiss S.
Hunt, Mrs. E. M.
Hitchcock, Mr. and Mrs. W. A.
Hunt, Mr. and Mrs. William.
Hutchinson, Mrs. J. F.
Kirkland, Miss Marian P.
Kettell, Mr. and Mrs. C. W.
Knowlton, Mr. Clarence H.
Lane, Mrs. Ellen B.
Lane, Mr. Ralph E.

XX.

MEMBERSHIP.

Locke, Mr. and Mrs. A. E.
Locke, Miss Etta M.
Locke, Mr. and Mrs. H. G.
Locke, Hon. Warren E.
Luke, Mr. and Mrs. W. J.
Merriam, Mr. E. P.
Milne, Mr. and Mrs. G. D.
Mitchell, Mr. A. S.
Mulliken, Miss Amelia M.
Mulliken, Mr. E. M.
Munroe, Miss M. Alice.
Munroe, Miss Elmina.
Munroe, Mr. Howard M.
Munroe, Mrs. Helen H.
Munroe, Mr. and Mrs. J. P.
Munroe, Mr. James S.
Nichols, Mr. E. P.
Nunn, Mr. Charles P.
Parker, Mr. Charles M.
Parker, Miss Elizabeth S.
Parsons, Mr. and Mrs. A. S.
Peaslee, Mrs. Louise W.
Perkins, Mr. and Mrs. Walter B.
Phinney, Miss Jane.
Pierce, Mr. Alfred
Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. C. F.
Pierce, Miss Gertrude.
Piper, Dr. Fred S.
Putnam, Mr. and Mrs. H. H.
Porter, Mr. and Mrs. H. W.
Raymond, Mrs. F. F.
Raymond, Mr. Henry S.
Redman, Mrs A. M.
Reed, Mr. and Mrs. Hammon.
Robertson, Miss Emma A.
Robinson, Miss Frances M.
Robinson, Mrs. F. O.
Robinson, Miss Sarah E.
Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Theo. P.
Russell, Mr. and Mrs. J. F.
Rowse, Mr. and Mrs. W. W.
Saville, Mr. L. A.

Scott, Hon. and Mrs. A. E.
Seeley, Mr. and Mrs. O. G.
Shaw, Mr. Elijah A.
Shaw, Miss Elsie L.
Smith, Mr. A. Bradford.
Smith, Miss Charlotte E.
Sherburne, Mr. and Mrs. F. F.
Sherburne, Mr. and Mrs. Warren.
Skerry, Miss Sarah R.
Spaulding, Mr. and Mrs. G. W.
Staples, Mrs. C. A.
Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. R. L.
Stevens, Rev. and Mrs. A. W.
Streeter, Mr. and Mrs. G. H.
Stickle, Mr. and Mrs. W. C.
Stone, Mr. Edward C.
Taylor, Mr. Edward G.
Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Tenney, Mra. Benjamin F.
Thornton, Mrs. Annie C.
Thornton, Miss Mary C.
Thornton, Miss Elizabeth T.
Tilton, Dr. J. O.
Tower, Mrs. William A.
Tower, Miss Ellen M.
Valentine, Dr. and Mrs. Henry C.
Van Ness, Mrs. Sarah B.
Washburn, Mr. and Mrs. A. W.
Wellington, Miss Caroline.
Wellington, Mr. Cornelius.
Wellington, Miss Eliza.
Wellington, Mr. Herbert L.
Wellington, Mr. Walter.
Wetherbee, Mr. and Mrs. A. A.
Whiting, Mr. and Mrs. G. O.
Whitman, Miss Kate.
Willard, Mr. and Mrs. J. H.
Wiswell, Mr. and Mrs. C. H.
Wood, Mrs. Adelaide H.
Worthen, Mr. George E.
Wright, Miss Abbie E.
Wright, Miss Emma E.

NECROLOGY.

Alderman, Franklin, February 9,

Babcock, Leonard G., March 14,

Bowman, Mrs. Eliza Powell, June 12,

Bryant, Albert W., November 21,

Chandler, John Q. A., December 14,

Clarke, Mrs. Ruth B., June 29,

Davis, Mrs. Mary A. E., March 3,

Gammell, Miss Lucy, December 22,

Gookin, Samuel H., September 23,

Gould, Arthur F., October 6,

Greeley, William H., December 21,

Ham, James N.,

Hamlin, Dr. Cyrus, August 3,

Harrington, Mrs. Miriam A July 29,

Hastings, John, April 20,

Hayes, Francis B. September 20,

Hayes, Mrs. Margaret M., November 20,

Hunt, Lewis, November 29,

Hutchinson, Mrs. Mary L., August 22,

Jones, George F., June 2,

Locke, Amos, June 6,

Lord, Mrs. Kate E., September 19,

Meredith, Rev. Irving, May 8,

Merriam, Mrs. Jane, December 31,

Merriam, Hon. Matthew H., January 26,

Matthews, Capt. Richard, December 11,

Mills, Henry F.,

MuUiken, Emory A., September 5,

Mulliken, William H., November 19,

Munroe, Mrs. Alice B., August 7,

Munroe, William H., August 28,

Munroe, William R., September 6,

Munroe, Henry A., June 18,

Muzzey, George E., December 14,

Paine, Francis B.,

Paine, George A.,

Parker, James, March 22,

900
900
899
902
896
889
890

900
896
895
884
890
893
893

895
894
895
898

893
898
899
889
888
902
889
896
896

xxu.

NECROLOGY.

Parker, Miss Esther T., March 8

Parker, Theo. J., June 20

Perkins, Dr. W. O.,

Pierce, Mrs. Etta A., December 26

Pitts, Mrs. Meta Wilson, January 26

Porter, Rev. Edward G., February 5

Porter, D. D., Rev. George W., March 2

Powers, Jacob Haven, September 15

Putnam, Mrs. E. A., January 23

Redman, Mrs. Emma S., December 27

Reed, Henry M., June 27

Richardson, Herbert E.,

Robinson, Frederick O., February i

Robinson, George W., December 16

Sampson, Grace D., February 6

Saltmarsh, Dr. Seth, February 8

Saville, Mrs. Rebecca H., June 27

Simonds, Eli,

Simonds, Joseph F., September 17

Smith, Mrs. Caroline T., December 26

Smith, George O. November 16,

Smith, William H., September 24

Stackpole, Charles A., December 16

Staples, Rev. Carlton A., August 30

Stone, Mrs. Alice A., September 23

Stone, Mrs. Ellen A., October 28

Sumner, Mrs. Maria, November 29

Tilton, Mrs. Harriett A., October 24

Thornton, Col. Charles C. G., January 13

Todd, Nathaniel M., April 25

Tower, Col. William A., November 21

Tyler, Mrs. Mary E., April 7

Viles, Miss Rebecca D., April 23

WeUington, Mrs. Caroline B., June i

Wellington, Charles A., February 2

Wellington, Horatio,

Willis, Frank R., April 13

Wright. Luke W., April 22

Wyman, Mrs. A. Theresa, December 4

INDEX.

PAGE.

Adams, Samuel, Statue of, 68

Alexander, Miss Frances, 38

Anti-Slavery Society, 48, 51

Banns, Publishing the, 91

Baptist Society, 39

Barrett, Rev. Fiske, 39

Bay State Historical League, 169

Beacon Hill, 9

Brattle Street Church, 9

Briggs, Rev. Charles, 37, 87, 90

Brown, Francis, 82

Brown, Dr. F. H., 95

Brown, Deacon James, 91

Bryant, Albert W., 142

Buckman Tavern, 94, 103, 143

Buckminster, Rev. J. S., 9

Cambridge Farms, 25,98, 143

Carter, Rev. C. F., 177

Cary, Miss A. B., 140

Centennial, Lexington, 62

Chandler, E. F., 127

Chandler, S. E., 127

Channing, Rev. W. E., 47. 54) 57

Charles River Bridge, no

Chittendon and Burr, 137

Clapp, R. P., 169, 173

Clarke, Rev. Jonas, 16, 32, 40, 87, 98, 102, 140, 146

Clock-making, 134

Concord Turnpike, no

Currier, Dr. W. J., 22

Dow, G. W., 122

Emerson, R. W., 50

Epitaphs, Lexington, 94

xxiv. INDEX.

PAGE

Estabrook, Benjamin, 27, 28, 37

Faneuil, Peter, "i 13

Fisk, Dr. Joseph, 19

Flip, 154

Follen, Rev. Charles, 42

Follen Church, 3^! 50, 52

Follen, Mrs. Eliza Lee 47» 54

Gannett, Rev. E. S., 37

Garrison, W. L., 48, 51, 57

German Student Corps, 43

Gerrish, Samuel, 8

Grant, President U. 5., 75

Green, Mrs. C. M., 140

Hancock-Clarke House, ?> 14, 3°. 138, 146, 162, 179

Hancock, Rev. Ebenezer, 7, 14,30,31,40

Hancock, Rev. John, 7, 14, 29, 40

Hancock, Hon. John, 14,17,34,68,86

Hancock, Mrs. Lydia (Henchman), 8, 18, 33

Hancock Mansion, 10

Hancock, Thomas, . 5i 3°

Harrington, Miss E. W., 134

Harrington, Jonathan, 100

Hastings, Deacon Isaac, 91

Hayes Fountain, 163

Healy, G. P. A., 22

Herlackenden, Roger, 98

High School, Lexington, 117

Hiram Lodge of Masons, 142, 148

Historical Relics, 65

Hogarth's " Apprentices," 5

Holmes, Miss S. E., 97

" Holy Alliance," The, 45

Hudson, Charles, 134

Hudson, Miss M. E., 62, 117

Jones, Paul, 77

Lafayette, 46

Lane, R. E., 19

Lexington & West Cambridge R. R., 58

Lexington, Battle of, 34, loi, 146

Lexington, Town of, 30> 37

INDEX. XXV.

PAGE

"Lexington," Burning of the, 55

Livermore, Rev. L. J., 4°

Martineau, Harriet, 51

Meeting Houses, Lexington, 27, 82

Middlesex Canal, no

Minute Men of 1875, 64

MuUiken Clocks, 134

Mulliken, John, 135

Mulliken, Nathaniel, 134

Munroe, J. P., 42, 159, 169, 182

Munroe, John, 99

Munroe, Jonas, 149

Munroe, William, 100, 143

Munroe Tavern, 142

Muzzey, G. E., 139

New England Historic-Genealogical Society, 96

Parker, Capt. John, 102

Parker, Rev. Theodore, 42, 115

Parsons, A. S., 160

Pelham, Herbert, 25, 98, 142

Phillips, Wendell, 53

Pitcairn Pistols, 66

Porter, Rev. E. G., 64, 178

Putnam, Mrs. J. P., 66

Quincy, Dorothy, 18

Revere, Paul, 146

Robbins Burying Ground, loi

Robbins, Eli M., 96, 100

Robbins, Thomas, 102

Russell, Hon. James, 59

Scott, Hon. A. E., 155

Simonds, Joshua, 102

Singing Schools, 36, 84

Smith, A. Bradford, no

Smith, George O., 158, 164

Smith, G. O., Will of, 165,174

Spaulding, Dr. Stillman, i9) 37

Stafford, Miss, 76

Staples, Rev. C. A., .... 5, 25, 40, 97, 138, 155, 162, 164, 177, 182
Staples, Rev. N. A., 39

XXVI. INDEX.

PAGE

Stone, Capt. John, no

Swett, Rev. W. G., 38

Town Meetings, 32, 118, 130

Walker, Rev. James, 37

Warren, W. W., 58

Washington, President, 153

Wellington, Benjamin, 102

Wellington, Charles A., 155

Wellington, George Y., 58

Wellington, Jeduthan, 114

Wellington, Dr. Timothy, 59

West Cambridge, 58, 150

Westcott, Rev. Henry, 40

Whitman, Rev. Jason, 39

Whitman, Dr. M. F., 132

Whittemore, H. O., 131

Williams, Rev. Avery, 36, 87, 89

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